RJI in the News

Block by Block will be hosting this week its second annual Block by Block Community News Summit (#bxb11), an independent, online local news publishers gathering in Chicago, Sep. 29-Oct. 1. The event, sponsored by the Reynolds Journalism Institute, the Patterson Foundation, the Knight Foundation and Loyola University will bring together 200 of America’s online citizen journalism publishers.

Four legendary producers, at a symposium held at the Reynolds Journalism Institute, revealed another application for the skills acquired in the journalism field: reality television.

Couldn't join us for Block by Block? Don't fret, there are many ways to participate online.

The Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri-Columbia is asking media tablet users to take part in a survey.

The Seattle Times recently reorganized its newsroom and the new structure recognizes three key roles for the organization: Creation, Curation, Community

KOMU Columbia, Mo., in DMA138, has taken the plunge into social media news, last week launching a 4 p.m. newscast that makes viewers an integral part of the show. And there’s a social media desk that includes two reporters tracking bloggers, Tweets and online conversations about topics making the news.

Cohn will be working in concert with three community websites run by the school: MissionLocal.org, OaklandNorth.net and RichmondConfidential.org.

Roger Fidler weighs in on The Commercial Appeal's pay model saying it, "is a very ambitious project."

While walking around MU, visitors may notice a set of signs that went up earlier this week. The small black signs mark the 16 sites included on the new Mizzou Audio Tour developed by Reynolds Fellow Clyde Bentley.

Stations across the country have worked to fill the 4 p.m. hole left by the departure of daytime staple Oprah Winfrey. But KOMU’s approach might be one of the most novel: a news broadcast that allows viewers to interact in real time. Using the “Hangout” video-chat feature in the new social network Google Plus, some viewers are invited to join a group with Hill, where she interacts with them during breaks and asks them questions during the broadcast. Meteorologist Dave Schmidt also has a Hangout, though it doesn’t air live on the show.

The School of Journalism is pitching a new project to help cultivate technological knowledge in students, especially younger ones, next week. The project, code-named “Tech Farm League,” aims to bring large tech corporations to Columbia to teach students about their products.

Three members of KOMU's news team share what it takes to produce U_News@4.

Will tablet computers such as the Apple iPad and its Android counterparts be the answer to the advertising and circulation problems plaguing the newspaper and magazine industries?

While cellphones have become ubiquitous as mobile devices, it's been a much longer haul for tablets - portable electronic devices that try to fill a void between tiny screen cellphones and more cumbersome laptops, something Roger Fidler predicted in 1994.

David Cohn's Spot.us is boasted as a citizen journalism website to people should be visiting.

Michele McLellan shares her view on the ways people should approach news now.

Jen Reeves believes Twitter can be a valuable asset for the news industry.

Joy Mayer publishes a thorough guide to community engagement for newsrooms.

When Facebook launched the ability to embed Facebook comments on third-party websites, a lot of publishers saw it as a life-saver: not only would it improve traffic by exposing their content to others on the social network, but Facebook’s “real names” policy would also cut down on trolling and bad behavior. But it’s worth remembering that Facebook is not the cure for bad comments, and that handing over comments means relinquishing control over something important.

In her guide, Joy Mayer argues that newsrooms need to adopt a series of “value statements” about their relationship with their readers and their communities.