Underserved health beat leads fellow to create niche news network

When traditional news organizations begin laying off beat reporters, crucial community coverage can take a hit. Health is one beat that is underserved in almost every community. People want to understand why so much money is spent on healthcare every year and why there are so many health problems in communities, said Jane Stevens, ACESTooHigh.com … Continued

2012: What we know now on building public trust, raising money and a free press

Was 2012 prosperous for publishers? The four-part series continues, with this third installment offering key lessons from three well-respected practitioners known for thinking outside the box. Mike Fancher, veteran news business strategist and 2008–2009 Reynolds Fellow; Lila LaHood, director of operations and development at San Francisco Public Press; and Keith Hammonds, director of Ashoka’s Knowledge … Continued

RJI receives $30.1 million endowment gift from Reynolds Foundation

COLUMBIA, Mo. — The University of Missouri announced Thursday that it has received a $30.1 million gift to guarantee permanent funding for the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, the 4-year-old center devoted to innovation, collaboration and research in media industries. The gift, the largest endowment gift in the history of the university, came from the … Continued

RJI launches showcase for visually rich digital newsbooks

An online showcase has been launched to promote a source of in-depth, visually rich reporting on a wide variety of interesting topics, using digital publishing tools. The showcase, launched by Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute of the Missouri School of Journalism, includes investigative/explanatory journalism reports on a variety of subjects including illegal trading of human … Continued

Another voice explains why newspapers must move beyond the news

We’ve written about the need for newspapers to stop thinking about they physical product  and start acting like “information valets” for their users in an age where attention is at a premium — helping users to manage their “personas.”   We’ve co-authored a piece about efforts at the New London, Conn. Day newspaper. Now another voice is now … Continued

Q5: How do mobile and non-mobile media users perceive the news media and journalists?

2012 RJI Mobile Media News Consumption Survey A majority of respondents overall — mobile media users and non-users — shared a generally favorable opinion of professional journalists, when asked if they agreed or disagreed with a series of statements on a five-point scale. That’s the good news. The bad news, or shall we say the “more thought-provoking news,” is that respondents … Continued

Pivot Point: A first step for sharing next steps — listserv

Proponents of projects broached at RJI’s Pivot Point gathering in June now have an initial place to share ideas and action steps — a Google Groups listserv.  RJI is studying the most helpful way to find, expose and advance projects such as those shared at Pivot Point.

Q4: How do owners of different mobile media media device brands differ?

2012 RJI Mobile Media News Consumption Survey While many people have wished for one mobile media device that would do everything and satisfy everyone, their wish is unlikely to be realized. The trend clearly is toward owning multiple mobile devices and using them in different ways. However, as the number of device choices grow, age … Continued