How do we engage news consumers in the digital world?

If you operate a nonprofit newsroom, email appeals have likely become an essential fundraising tool. Yet while recommendations for how to grow your mailing lists are readily available, it’s much harder to find good information about retaining subscribers and engaging them as active community members. As a result, many successful efforts to gain subscribers are … Continued

The path to college starts with just one caring person

Can you remember being very young and wondering what you’d be when you grew up? My first goals were to be a cowboy, then maybe a fireman. A little later I upgraded to wanting to be the second baseman for the Detroit Tigers. These were all fine for kids. But as many of us grew … Continued

AP’s Kia Breaux passionate about helping young people pursue college dreams

“I am the end result of the Talk Story, Write Story program’s mission,” said Kia Breaux, Midwest Regional Director of The Associated Press based in her hometown of Kansas City. “I certainly could have benefited from this program, and I know many others who could have as well.” She offered her remarks during a day-long … Continued

Talk Story, Write Story demonstration project is a success story

I used my Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute fellowship this year to test my hunch that trained volunteers could successfully help financially challenged high school students write their way into college scholarships. If my theory was correct, others could do what I had loved doing, mostly alone, for nearly two decades. My Talk Story, Write … Continued

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