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One man making a vertical video of another on his cellphone

How to get your reporters started with vertical video

Shifting from a word driven to a video-first mindset can feel like an entirely separate, overwhelming challenge. At the Detroit Free Press, we have started working to make producing vertical video more accessible for our reporters.

A three-panel comic showing a newsroom workflow: Panel 1 depicts stressed journalists facing "Election Night Chaos"; Panel 2 shows a woman generating Python code using an AI coach; Panel 3 displays a "Human Fact-Checked" automated data dashboard.

Bay City News Election Playbook, Part 2: Newsrooms can vibe code their way to automated election night dashboard

Election night is a high-stakes, labor-intensive operation — and not just for the candidates. As voters wait for returns, community journalists fight an uphill battle to make sense of data released in disparate formats from different sources. But a breakthrough experiment at Bay City News provides a new blueprint for success. By leveraging generative artificial … Continued

Rebecca Ritzel | Photo: Nate Brown

Launching the Arts Journalism Initiative

Faced with a declining landscape for traditional arts coverage, shrinking newsroom budgets and an explosive rise in digital influencers filling the vacuum, 2025-2026 Residential RJI Fellow Rebecca Ritzel set out to look for solutions that preserve the quality and integrity of arts and culture journalism. Ritzel, a freelance arts and entertainment reporter and longtime contributor … Continued