RJI Fellows Class of 2020–2021
This series features stories by RJI’s 2020–2021 class of fellows.
What does it take to revive feature obituaries?
Before the famous and powerful die, notice of their death is often already written. When death comes — the details are polished, dates added, and their stories get shared.
A guide: 10 steps to more inclusive reporting
I have a confession to make. When I initially proposed a project to make reporting more representative of the communities we cover…
Crime, mugshots and takedown requests: Editors share newsroom approaches April 9
News Leaders Association and RJI to host the webinar inspired by RJI Fellowship project Newsrooms are invited to register for the free online webinar “Crime, mugshots and takedown requests: Addressing the long-tail of digital crime reporting,” happening at 10:30 a.m. CT on April 9. The event is being hosted by the News Leaders Association and … Continued
RJI Fellows reflect on eight month projects, what they’ve learned and how the industry can benefit
Seven fellows at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute who have been working on innovative projects that can benefit the journalism industry, over the past eight months, are wrapping up their projects. Six shared findings and insights from their projects, as well as links to resources during a recent Q&A webinar with the public. We’ve … Continued
How to build data capacity in your newsroom
Introducing DUG, our beta data unit guide Forget the gist of the photo up there—the one reading “data has a better idea.” I don’t buy it. (Lovely photo though, no?) Data rarely has a better idea, because data doesn’t think. People think. Sometimes data can help people think a little better. The problem is that … Continued
Improving negotiation skills to fight inequality in newsrooms
A toolkit for Latina journalists and training sessions to reduce the pay gap Discrimination against Latino journalists in the United States affects the environment of freedom of expression and access to information for the Hispanic communities they frequently report on and write about. This is the main conclusion of the research conducted by Fundamedios in … Continued
Getting a source to ‘yes’
We have to put in the work. The first stage of my project was getting newsrooms on board with making their reporting more reflective of the communities they cover. Next, my media partners and I had to answer that age-old question: “How do I find and-or curate more diverse sources?” With those two things accomplished, … Continued
‘Do people even read captions?’
Why it’s important to test what we THINK we know about mediaYes, people read captions. They’re some of the most scannable, well-read elements in news media. So how can we make them truly worthwhile? It’s time to test. Why is it important to test what we think we already know about how people read the … Continued
After 7 months reporting, a surprise discovery — Obits are evergreen
Recently I sat down with the Tampa Bay Times’ analytics tool, Parse.ly, to see what I could learn from seven months of obituary reporting. I found something I did not expect. I read author reports each week on the pieces I write, so I see how they did one week after publication. I’ve learned how … Continued
Unpublishing challenges demand cohesion between pre- and post-publication policies
Newsroom project shows newsmaking and “news breaking” policies go hand-in-hand I met with several editorial leaders of the Columbia Missourian and KOMU-TV recently about our project to develop pre-publication policies that are crafted in consideration of the longtail of publishing. I’ve written about the importance of critically analyzing reporting practices in a previous article. Our … Continued