Reporting
FL#166: CNN’s approach to Snapchat
CNN on Snapchat Most news organizations have limited functionality within Snapchat. But as one of the Snapchat Discover partners, CNN can offer multi-part news updates that are available to all Snapchat users. We talked with Ashley Codianni, director of social publishing, about how CNN hopes its effort on the platform will create a constant news … Continued
RJI Fellow developing bot-driven engagement to build community, extend news coverage
Coverage. It’s what we promise as news organizations. We cover stories, communities, events and people. Every news organization should make one promise to its community: We’ve got you covered. But we don’t, not by a stretch. Our coverage is actually becoming more gap-filled and uneven by the day. I won’t spend much time here writing … Continued
Chicago incubator to help student-developed transcription app move toward launch
Recordly won 2016 RJI Student Competition
RJI Fellowship seeks to bolster independent mobile journalism in Cuba
With few Cuban residents having access to the internet on the island, independent news outlets like 14ymedio are forced to find creative ways to deliver online news to a disconnected country. The latest idea from the team at 14ymedio is to develop an app that will utilize offline sharing technology to further amplify news distribution … Continued
Hurricane watch: Could coastal storms cost your community?
In the news Hurricane Hermine lingers in the Northeast this week after making landfall last Friday and causing damaging storm surge, strong winds and heavy rain from Florida to the coastal southeast states. As of Tuesday, the storm had taken three lives, damaged property and knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of residents. Meanwhile, … Continued
Deep South, deep risk: Region faces climate adaptation challenges
In the news President Barack Obama is to visit flood-ravaged Louisiana today in the wake of inundating high water that killed 13 people and left more than 100,000 seeking federal assistance. The Great Flood of 2016 is being called the worst U.S. natural disaster since Hurricane Sandy in 2012, with 4,000 people in shelters days … Continued
Dry spell: Covering worsening droughts
In the news A months-long drought has hit the northeastern United States, and while it’s not as dire as the West Coast’s five-year dry spell, it has stressed farms, prompted water restrictions and threatened more wildfires. It stretches from Maine to Pennsylvania and has hit Massachusetts particularly hard, as well as New Hampshire, Maine and … Continued
RJI Fellowship team will use technology to bring more citizens, journalists into the council chamber
As newsrooms shrink in size, so does the amount of meeting coverage, says Mike Wheeler, a member of an RJI Fellowship team working to make meeting deliberations more accessible and “on demand” to journalists and citizens. He is a managing partner for Westerly Partners. Local government transparency is crucial to a community’s well-being, he says. … Continued
RJI Fellow to create pipeline of ‘deputies’ in pursuit of news coverage of Alabama communities
One unseasonably warm weekend this past February, I found myself chatting about transportation spending deep in the bowels of a dark, loud motorcycle club headquarters in a warehouse on Birmingham, Alabama’s gritty west side. We were eagerly waiting for the latest Vikings recruits to be doused in water and beer as an initiation into the … Continued
Does structured journalism work? Evaluating the feasibility of structure for consumers and reporters
Does the traditional news article still make sense as the primary unit of news in the age of the Internet and smartphone? That was the question I asked in my first blog post as an RJI Fellow in July 2015. My fellowship has focused on evaluating a proposed alternative unit of news: the structured story, … Continued