Highest ranking TMR Posts of 2025: Investigative reporting leads in both views and engagement
By Heather Parish
This year, in addition to the Top 20 Cultural Arts Events List, The Munro Review wanted to take a look back at what we published and, to the point, what resonated among a variety of readers. Considering we have expanded our offerings of reporting and commentary in addition to our traditional reviews and previews, The Munro Review’s Highest Ranking Posts of 2025 offers one way to do that: a data-informed snapshot of which stories reached the most readers, sparked the most engagement, and traveled farthest in their first crucial weeks.
As always, numbers tell part of the story. The rest lives between the lines.
How this list was ranked
To rank the top 20 out of 122 total posts in 2025, we used a weighted scoring system designed to balance reach, momentum, and engagement.
Each post was scored across five quantitative metrics, on a 1–10 scale with 10 representing the strongest performance across the 2025 dataset:
• Total views
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• 30-day views
• Email open rate
• Comments
• Likes
Those scores were then weighted to reflect readership engagement:
• 30-day views (40%), emphasizing timely relevance
• Total views (20%), reflecting sustained readership and reach
• Email open rate (20%), a measure of subscriber interest
• Comments (10%) and likes (10%), capturing reader response
The resulting weighted score produced the final ranking.
This methodology favors stories that gained traction quickly while still rewarding longevity and meaningful engagement. It does not, however, measure everything we value such as editorial priorities and critical impact. If you wish, you can review the ranking process (including page views, email open rates, scores, and other metrics), the spreadsheet is here.
Highest Ranking Posts of 2025
(1) Special report: Why do COS theater professors make so much more than their colleagues across the state? Investigation. Weighted Score: 8.7
(2) Top 20: From Brad Myers’ last Fresno State show to drunken ‘Julius Caesar,’ it was a memorable 2024. Feature. Weighted Score: 8.6
(3) Tony Awards 2025 update and tidbits. News & Commentary. Weighted Score: 7.8
(4) Theater Review: Good Company Players’ ‘Frozen’. Review. Weighted Score: 5.9
(5) Theater review: ‘Alice by Heart’ at Selma Arts Center. Review. Weighted Score: 5.7
(6) Professional theater in Fresno? Chanticleer’s ‘Richard III’. Feature. Weighted Score: 4.7
(7) Five things to love about CMT’s ‘Bye Bye Birdie’. Preview. Weighted Score: 4.6
(8) 10 Things to Know about Good Company’s ‘1776’ Preview. Weighted Score: 4.4
(9) Theater review: GCP’s ‘Shrew’. Review. Weighted Score: 4.4
(10) Theater review: ‘1776’. Review. Weighted Score: 4.2
(11) Theater review: Chanticleer’s ‘Richard III’. Review. Weighted Score: 4.2
(12) From ‘Our Town’ to ‘Cabaret’ — Meg Clark. Profile. Weighted Score: 4.0
(13) Theater review: Selma’s ‘RENT’. Review. Weighted Score: 3.9
(14) Theater review: GCP’s ‘Waitress’. Review. Weighted Score: 3.8
(15) Theater review: GCP’s ‘Chapter Two’. Review. Weighted Score: 3.7
(16) Theater Review: ‘Something Rotten!’. Review. Weighted Score: 3.7
(17) Theater review: ‘Tina’. Review. Weighted Score: 3.6
(18) Measure P arts grants vote analysis. Civic / Arts Policy. Weighted Score: 3.3
(19) Theater Review: ‘Beautiful’. Review. Weighted Score: 3.0
(20) Analysis: Fresno’s Keyboard Concerts & Measure P. Civic / Arts Policy. Weighted Score: 2.7
The story between the data lines
Front runner
The standout story of the year was Doug Hoagland’s much discussed investigative report examining the reasons for College of the Sequoias theater professors’ high salaries in comparison with other theatre professors in the state. This piece did more than draw the most views, it asked uncomfortable questions about equity among arts educators statewide, transparency, and institutional priorities in a local public college. Its reach was immediate, but its relevance will likely be longer-lasting, shaping inquiries well beyond a single news cycle.
This story is also a reminder that while The Munro Review is best known for arts criticism and cultural coverage, deeply reported arts policy stories can connect local concerns to systemic questions like equity, resources, and taxpayer dollars.
Close behind in the ranking is the 2024 Top 20 Cultural Arts Events roundup and a Tony Awards commentary by Donald Munro that combined industry insight with personal perspective. These pieces benefit from timeliness and shareability, but they also provide important context for arts audiences and practitioners alike.
The role of reviews, previews and profiles
The rest of the list is dominated by theater reviews with a few previews and profiles sprinkled in. These are more traditional items for TMR. They continue to form the backbone of our content and receive steady engagement from our readership. They may not always generate viral traffic, but reviews perform consistently and quietly.
Moreover, previews and reviews of cultural arts offerings perform a crucial civic function that metrics struggle to capture: documenting local culture. TMR’s work in arts journalism and criticism creates a public record of performances that would otherwise vanish when the curtain falls. It tells future readers not just what was staged, but how it was received, what risks were taken, and where meaning emerged or fell short. The arts are ephemeral in nature and this local context can inform area artists and audiences in the future, creating an archive of a cultural moment. They also support artists by engaging with their work seriously and thoughtfully, which is why reader comments are also given weight in the rankings.
Arts policy stories
Considering that arts policy reporting is published far less often on TMR, it is interesting that two items still ranked in the top twenty out of 122 posts. TMR’s Measure P coverage by Doug Hoagland (particularly stories examining funding scores, pulled agenda items, and the fragility of arts support in Fresno) did essential civic work. While they may not surge in the first week or two of publication, their strong overall engagement is cumulative and its impact informs public awareness, understanding, and context months (possibly years) later.
The role of editorial priorities
If this list were ranked purely by editorial importance (as judged by the editors and writers at TMR), it may look somewhat different. Investigations and arts policy analysis might rise, while reviews might be grouped not by views but by the ambition of the work they engaged with (which is where our Top 20 Cultural Arts Events list comes in). Profiles might be judged by depth rather than traffic.
This ranking shows us what readers sought out and shared, which is important to know.
However, in terms of editorial direction, data analysis doesn’t make decisions, it asks questions. It asks, “What stories deserve more attention than they get?” “Which pieces quietly did essential work?” And, “How do we balance immediacy with depth?”
Data is often how modern journalism is driven. Data rewards urgency, impulse, and quick engagement. Editorial insight, however, unfolds slowly and thoughtfully.
Arts journalism and criticism live in that tension. A review read by 400 people in Fresno County likely has more impact on our community than a generic listicle read by 4,000 statewide. Local coverage, especially for arts and culture, affirms that local work is worth attention, analysis, and care. Civic arts reporting may never go viral, but it ensures that decisions about funding, access, and local culture are not made in silence.
If the Highest Ranked Posts list shows what readers gravitated toward in 2025, this editorial balance reminds us why The Munro Review exists in the first place: to connect, share, and value the cultural life of our region, which also includes documenting and challenging it—even when the payoff isn’t immediate or easily quantified.
The numbers help us understand our reach. Editorial judgment helps us understand meaning. We need both.
