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

How visual metaphor helps move our data off the page

And into people’s brains It’s a new year, and as I’m nearing the end of this fellowship, it seems worth pulling the lens back a bit. We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about nuts and bolts —how to build a bot, when to opt for quick and dirty hacks over fresh code, if and … Continued

Launching a newsletter and thinking about analytics

It’s not just about clicks When we launched our obits newsletter, How They Lived, on December 8, I had one big concern: Would anyone read it? Honestly, I worry about that with everything I publish, but launching a new product so close to the holidays only amped up that worry. The beauty of making journalism … Continued

Taking a look at the Boston Globe’s “Fresh Start” program

Here are some key elements to consider Last week, the Boston Globe announced a new program to help reduce the impact of personal information found online. The Fresh Start initiative invites people to request a review of information about them in the news site’s public-facing archive, similar to some other efforts we’ve seen launched in … Continued

Pre-reporting for data journalists

A brief intro to exploratory analysis In a recent paper, a pair of statisticians took a stab at outlining “the most important statistical ideas of the past 50 years.” Among them: “counterfactual causal inference, bootstrapping and simulation-based inference, overparameterized models and regularization, multilevel models, generic computation algorithms, adaptive decision analysis, robust inference, and exploratory data … Continued

FAQ: 2021 RJI Student Innovation Fellowships

How do I apply? Apply here. The application deadline is February 26, 2021. You will be notified by email about Zoom interviews if you are a finalist for a fellowship.  What is a 2020 RJI Student Innovation Fellowship?  A Missouri School of Journalism student interning with a local news organization by working 30 to 40 … Continued

Measuring progress on inclusivity

Tracking who actually shows up in the reporting is vital to the source diversity equation in journalism.Long before Linda Miller became an inclusive media consultant for RJI, she spent a decade creating the Public Insight Network for American Public Media, a platform of thousands of people who agreed to be sources for journalists and newsrooms. … Continued