RJI Fellowship delivers digital services to publishers for local businesses

February 8, 2018

New online textbook is comprehensive resource for teaching media entrepreneurship

This Q&A has been edited for space and clarity. An evolving online textbook, written and reviewed by entrepreneurs, student innovators and educators, prepares journalism students to take entrepreneurial work from “idea to implementation.” Co-editor Michelle Barrett Ferrier, 2016–17 RJI Fellow and an Ohio University professor, says “Media Innovation and Entrepreneurship” was born out of the … Continued

February 1, 2018

Judd Slivka named new RJI director of aerial journalism

The Missouri School of Journalism’s Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute has created a new program that will explore drones and other journalism opportunities in the sky. Judd Slivka, assistant professor of convergence journalism, has been named its first director of aerial journalism. “This new position will examine the different facets of this emerging area,” says … Continued

February 1, 2018

RJI Futures Lab adds new senior editor to its team

Journalist and developer James Gordon has joined the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute as the new senior editor for the RJI Futures Lab. He will help RJI as it grows its technical expertise, particularly in mobile technology and artificial intelligence. Gordon will develop, test and analyze new platforms for journalism. His work will include analyzing … Continued

January 30, 2018

Potter Digital Ambassadors visit five weekly newspapers to boost outlets’ multimedia, social media

The Potter Digital Ambassadors program recently paired five college journalism students with rural Missouri newspapers to help implement multimedia and social media strategies. This was the inaugural year of the program, which is underwritten by Missouri School of Journalism alumnus and newspaper editor Walt Potter. The ambassadors, all from the Missouri School of Journalism, had … Continued

January 30, 2018

RJI Fellow launches Deputy Program as free newsroom engagement tool

My goal as a 2016-17 Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute fellow was to help news organizations keep tabs on the communities they serve using available and often limited resources. The result of my efforts is the Deputy Program, a simple, cost-effective way to boost news-gathering capacity by harnessing the power of community networks via text … Continued

January 25, 2018

Low-tech resource helps reporters focus on the story at hand

To all of you DIY reporters out there — and really, aren’t we all? — here’s a project that takes just 60 seconds to assemble and a lifetime to perfect. Like all DIY projects, you need some tools: A reporters’ notebook. Glue or tape. A printer and paper. Directions: Open a new Microsoft Word document … Continued

January 22, 2018

Earning trust by inviting questions … and answering them

Originally published on Medium As newsrooms have joined the Trusting News work, we’ve asked them to think about how they might introduce the work to their audiences and how those audiences might be invited to weigh in. News consumers aren’t usually shy about telling us how we could do better, but asking for feedback directly … Continued

January 18, 2018

‘Science Friday’ tackles misinformation with socially shareable resources

During this monthly Q&A series, we’re checking in with the 2017-18 Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute Fellows to see what’s new with their projects and find out what they’ve learned so far.

January 17, 2018

Immersive Storytelling: Tools and tips

Here are five lessons learned from our time creating an immersive narrative story with a 360 camera 1. The viewer sees everything. When filming in flat video we control the frame and we direct the viewer. We shape the story by presenting a detail or an establishing shot or a portrait. In 360 video, the viewer sees everything … Continued

January 17, 2018