News
How to make money on digital: The answer is still elusive
The main story that came out of my first stop on the Potter Listening Tour (#potterlisten) is that a small paper can achieve significant success in building a digital audience. However, figuring out how to make money from that achievement is still a tough task. The Houston Herald serves more than 25,000 people in Texas … Continued
Houston Herald: Weekly in print, daily online
When something newsworthy happens in Houston, Missouri, residents expect their local weekly paper to tell them about it — now. “If people hear sirens,” says Publisher Brad Gentry, “they expect us to have the story.” That’s the way the Houston Herald likes it. When its reporters learn of an event, the Herald sends out a … Continued
Small-town paper wish list: Time-efficient means to analyze and implement innovations
What Houston (Mo.) Herald folks want from the Potter Conferences was something of a surprise. Publisher Brad Gentry and his team aren’t shy about dedicating resources to digital innovation although they want to do it in the most cost-efficient way. But with only eight employees to serve 25,000-plus souls in Texas County, they’re spread thin. … Continued
Potter listening tour of community newspapers begins this month
Walter B. Potter Jr. — donor of the Missouri School of Journalism’s Walter B. Potter Fund for Innovation in Local Journalism — will be visiting community newspapers in Missouri this month and next as part of what’s known informally as The Potter Listening Tour. The tour name is inspired by trips politicians sometimes take to … Continued
A 2008-2009 Reynolds Fellow leads development of new journalism innovation center at Oregon
An innovation center committed to exploring how citizens can interact and gain value from journalism is becoming reality for the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism, thanks to a generous anonymous donor. UO alumnus Mike Fancher has been tasked with launching the new think tank — the Center for Journalism Innovation and Civic Engagement — … Continued
‘Solutions’ and journalism grow closer together — what are implications for independence?
There is increasing momentum driving the idea that mainstream journalism — and the ethics training around it — should include the notion that it is not only OK but essential for reporters to report and even help convene community conversation around “solutions” to problems. But what does this do to the notion of independence? J-Lab … Continued
News consumption on mobile media surpassing desktop computers and newspapers
2013 RJI Mobile Media Research Report 1 Nearly 80 percent of all respondents to our 2013 Q1 phone survey said that they had used at least one Internet-enabled mobile media device in the seven days prior to taking the survey. That represents a 13-percentage-point increase since last year when our survey found that two-thirds (67%) … Continued
Student winners demo product at Hearst headquarters
Team Scope, winners of the 2012 Reynolds Journalism Institute Student Competition, demonstrated their story recommendation engine and self-service advertising network this week to newspaper, television, magazine and digital media executives at Hearst Tower in New York. Hearst Corporation, one of the country’s largest media companies, has sponsored the contest which brings together journalism, computer science … Continued
Newspaper Archive Summit white paper suggests next steps for stakeholders
A mandate to preserve — a white paper (PDF) — was produced for the Newspaper Archive Summit Network by Victoria McCargar, veteran journalist, archivist and digital curation consultant. This white paper provides an assessment of the first Newspaper Archive Summit and offers suggestions for next steps. On April 10-12, 2011, the Reynolds Journalism Institute, MU … Continued
The Storm Collection
Matt Thompson and Robin Sloan, co-creators of the hugely popular web video “Epic 2014,” released their newest video today, “SND Storm,” at the annual convention of the Society of News Design in St. Louis. Matt, a 2008-2009 Donald W. Reynolds Fellow at the Reynolds Journalism Institute, is an editorial product manager at NPR, where he’s … Continued