Business
What’s next for Documented Semanal, a WhatsApp newsletter
When the pandemic began, we, like many other organizations, worked quickly to respond to all of the pressing needs of our readers. Tens of thousands of NeW Yorkers were suddenly left jobless and afraid of getting sick. We knew financial relief and organizations seeking to help were out there, but many residents did not know … Continued
Turns out there’s a few things about obituaries that need re-thinking
Obituaries are a lot of things.
They’re a legal notice of death. They’re the story of a life. They’re a tool for grieving. And they’re a business.
In taking on one kind of obituary – the story – for this fellowship, I constantly bump into all the other forms.
Bolster your digital safety: An anti-hacking, anti-doxxing workshop
Journalists in all newsrooms, especially women, LGTBQ+ and BIPOC, are dealing with unprecedented levels of online abuse that can take form in publishing of private information, impersonations, hacking and more. In the ONA session, “Bolster Your Digital Safety: An Anti-Hacking, Anti-Doxxing Workshop,” Viktorya Vilk, program director for Digital Safety and Free Expression, PEN America and … Continued
Why local journalism needs a funding pipeline
Tech and philanthropic institutions are giving thousands of $5,000 to $250,000 grants to individual newsrooms, but… then what?
Journalists must play a vital role in fixing America’s false economic narrative
From the Federal Reserve to the U.S. Economic Development Administration to the American Planning Association, pressure is mounting in policy and planning circles to address the economic consequences of structural racism. In an effort to reboot an economy still impacted by COVID-19, the inherited disparities of a pre-pandemic segregationist society have been laid bare across … Continued
What’s Working: Newsletters may be reaching their limits, but there’s hope beyond the inbox
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Reynolds Journalism Institute or the University of Missouri. Email newsletters are thriving, but their ascendancy in today’s media brings with it a certain foreboding: Given how successful the format has been the past few years … Continued
Looking for a subscription success story? Try Scandinavia’s Schibsted
Scandinavia online readers lead the world in paying for online news, with 26% on average in Nordic countries answering affirmatively to the 2020 Reuters Digital News Report question, “Have you paid for online news content?” In Norway alone, the percentage of readers who pay for online news is 42%, up eight percentage points from 2019. … Continued
Local news: Filling in the future gaps
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Reynolds Journalism Institute or the University of Missouri. Paul Graham, the founder of tech accelerator Y Combinator, famously advises aspiring entrepreneurs to “Live in the future, then build what’s missing.” To him, the most successful … Continued
Lessons from a viral obituary
Once in a while, notice of someone’s death takes on a life all its own — the addict who was also a mother with a beautiful voice, the hard-living, sweet-souled uncle, the former beauty queen grandma who wrote her own obituary. Three months into my RJI fellowship experimenting with obituaries, I’ve been thinking a lot about what … Continued
A case study: Photojournalism and its value to a community
While I spent time thinking about the numbers surrounding my project, looking through data and designing new ways to collect it, something more palpable happened that strikes right at the heart of my main question: What’s the value of strong photojournalism to a community? For more than 41 years, the people of Jasper, Indiana, picked … Continued