New RJI Fellow to develop suite of apps to help streamline workflow of community journalists

July 13, 2015

Tracy Clark’s take on 15 news aggregation apps: Is your go-to app on this chart?

(U.S.-based rankings/ratings; data from iOS app store via AppAnnie as of July 6, 2015) Aggregator Released Ranking (U.S. News) Rating (U.S.) Facebook Paper Jan 29, 2014 56 4.0 (8,683 ratings) Feedly Nov 19, 2010 72 4.5 (40,421 ratings) Flipboard Jul 21 2010 11 4.5 (177,875 ratings) Google Newsstand Sep 3, 2011 112 3.0 (2,461 ratings) … Continued

July 13, 2015

Tracy Clark’s take on 15 news aggregation apps: Is your go-to app on this list?

The news customization market is still very early and fragmented yet extremely promising. In the past five years about 20 serious players have emerged filling niche areas of this market, with some acquisitions already occurring (Pulse by LinkedIn in 2013, Summly by Yahoo in 2013, Zite by Flipboard in 2014). Big players Facebook and Apple … Continued

July 10, 2015

Lessons learned and questions raised during the Potter Listening Tour, Part 2

As an old hand in print newspapers, I was struck by the contrast between the often days-long reporting process I remember and the instantaneous production I strived for during the tour (I posted to Facebook and Twitter). I had to create my words almost at the same time I was recording the words of my … Continued

July 1, 2015

Structured journalism: Evaluating journalism beyond the news article

Does the traditional news article still make sense as the primary unit of news in the age of the Internet and smartphone? The text article has been around for centuries, and yet has barely changed with the arrival of digital technologies. Articles still consist of a headline and an undifferentiated block of text. They are … Continued

June 19, 2015

Despite challenges, Southeast Missourian improves print product, grows online presence

Last year the Local Media Association named the Southeast Missourian the second-best daily newspaper with a circulation under 30,000 in North America. Bob Miller, editor of the Cape Girardeau paper, wants to build on that success, but he acknowledges the challenges posed by the convergence of print and digital technologies. First, there’s figuring out what … Continued

June 8, 2015

Legacy media company’s focus on the positive brings flood of new profit possibilities

As many legacy mass media company leaders worry about what they can’t do in the new digital age, Rust Communications Inc. is finding a cornucopia of things it can do. “We constantly look for new revenue streams,” says Co-President Jon K. Rust. The Cape Girardeau, Missouri-based company has capitalized on its resources, which include 49 … Continued

June 8, 2015

Embarking on third retirement, Fidler reflects on tech evolutions, his 1981 prediction about tablets

Mobile media scholar’s journalism career extended over more than half a century

May 27, 2015

Print vs. Web: Community publisher more concerned about quality of news than its method of delivery

Dalton Wright is no stranger to the impact of younger technologies on newspapers. The Lebanon (Mo.) Daily Record publisher grew up watching family members run radio stations. The young Wright was first exposed to print in 1953 when his father, O.R. Wright, bought the parent company of the Daily Record. “Dad saw a combination of … Continued

May 20, 2015

For the love of print: Second ‘job’ pays the bills

For Darryl Wilkinson, running a community newspaper is a labor of love, like running a farm is a labor of love for many of his Northwest Missouri neighbors. “It’s my farm,” says the publisher of The North Missourian, a 1,400-paid-circulation weekly he and his wife Liz have run for more than three decades in Gallatin. … Continued

May 19, 2015