Attitudes about news transcend technology and generational divide

2015 RJI Mobile Media Research Report 5 Millennials more likely than boomers to use smartphones for news, but professional journalism and news sources matter to both This is my final report on the results of the 2015 Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute Mobile Media News Consumption Survey. I will use it to explore the generational … Continued

Can structured news reinvent archives and reimagine objectivity?

In earlier posts I have reviewed the long-term potential of structured journalism to make newsrooms economically sustainable, empower news consumers and future-proof journalism as a profession. However, journalism is not just another business. Its economic and market success is important not only to its shareholders, customers and employees, but also to society in general. Journalism, … Continued

Kevin Poortinga: Controlled Chaos: The Balance Between Herding Cats and Collaborative Innovation

Kevin Poortinga, USA TODAY Kevin Poortinga leads the USA Today Lab, a department designed to quickly incubate concepts, new businesses and new initiatives for the media network, which consists of more than 100 local news organizations and flagship USA TODAY. When not prototyping or experimenting, the Lab also champions an internal innovation grants program, a hybrid … Continued

Phablets likely to boost responses to ads embedded in news stories and videos

2015 RJI Mobile Media Research Report 3 Owners responded more frequently to embedded ads using large-screen smartphones than with other devices Owners of phablets were much more likely to respond to advertisements embedded in news stories and videos than owners of standard smartphones, tablets and personal computers, according to the latest Donald W. Reynolds Journalism … Continued

Reporting into structure: How journalists, crowds and robots can work together

In previous posts, I’ve written about structured journalism’s potential to improve newsroom economics by rebundling news as networks of structured information, and to provide new value to consumers by giving them more control over the news they consume. But what does structured journalism do for journalists? Will structure merely contribute to the tech-driven weakening of … Continued

WordPress moves news past the printed newspaper

Local newspaper sites have long broken all the rules for building a sticky site. Most still load painfully slowly. They are difficult to navigate and — let’s be honest — often ugly.—Matthew Hindman, Shorenstein Center For centuries newspaper design has stayed about the same. In 1880 printers introduced halftone photographs and in the 1980s the … Continued