RJI news
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
New RJI Fellow to develop suite of apps to help streamline workflow of community journalists
A 2015-2016 RJI Fellow wants to streamline the workflow in small- to mid-sized newsrooms by creating apps to assist journalists in their day-to-day tasks. These tasks could range from fact-checking and finding free images to creating immersive multimedia presentations and previewing mobile versions of their articles. The project will put “big-media tools” into the hands … Continued
Don’t count out print yet
An advertiser recently asked Gasconade County Republican Publisher Dennis Warden how he was doing. The inquirer’s tone indicated, “He thought newspapers aren’t too long for this world,” Warden recalled. Representing the third generation of his family to run the East Central Missouri weekly, Warden disagrees. “I really do not have competitors, an advantage our big … Continued