I think the balance between clicks and newsworthiness depends on the type of news agency. For entertainment news, the number of overall clicks should matter because I think the point of entertainment sites is to attract people and while the content is important, it takes a back seat to a site’s overall purpose of appealing to the largest possible audience. For instance, the layout of E! Online seems to garner to the “happy clicker.” The website is full of content and an assortment of colors, begging visitors to click on something. It tricks visitors by overwhelming them, so that they think there must be something on the page that is of interest. Sites like E! Online, try to get readers to scroll through the home page because it seems that there is an assortment of fascinating content that a viewer doesn’t want to miss (unless you don’t like any of the initial content, which in that case a visitor would just leave the site). It also helps that the site has a trending tab, which tells readers that they should definitely click in that area if they want to be kept up-to-date on popular culture. Finally, E! Online has a lot of pictures of people, immediately giving visitors an idea of what each article is about and catching the eye of the viewer right away.
As for hard news sites, like KABC, the content is what’s more important, outstripping the need for clicks. The site posts articles that it thinks readers want to see, while E! Online, determines what readers should be entertained by. KABC has comparatively very few pictures, and doesn’t command a sense of exploration. It seems to just be a hub of content for readers that pretty much know what they’re looking for before entering the site. The KABC website really limits the number of clicks by almost being too simple. The thought process for a KABC visitor is to come to the site knowing what they’re looking for, find it, read it, and leave.
Clearly the audience between the two sites is vastly different, which determines the importance of clicks as well. E! Online attracts a younger audience a more “click friendly” group, so I think more clicks means people are staying longer because they are clicking on so many things, while KABC caters to an older audience that simply clicks on one or two stories and sits and reads the piece. So overall, the balance between clicks and news worthiness depends on what type of news you’re trying to show, but more importantly it depends on what type of audience you’re trying to attract.
I think a website that is has a healthy balance between clickable content and newsworthiness is ABC News online. The color scheme of the site is simple, and the click worthiness of its top stories is driven by visually appealing pictures. And the content itself seems to be the right mix of feature and hard news pieces.