Narrated article: Tips and tricks

This month for Innovation in Focus, we tested various tools and platforms to provide narration for articles to make them more accessible to people with disabilities. Here are a few tips from our experiments with these tools. 1. Pace yourself Listening to information is a different experience from reading it. You want to speak at … Continued

The passion for visual storytelling

Here’s my plan for documenting and sharing that passion Allow me to introduce you to Julia Robinson. Ask her to tell you about a story that made a difference and it’s like the clouds clear away and the sun begins to shine. Her passion for this profession becomes clear. Even when times are tough, when … Continued

The insults “stupid, fat, ugly” are just another day at work

The insults that hurt the most are those that imply that Latina journalists don’t belong in the news space “I have got accustomed that they call me ugly, fat, whore, stupid Puerto Rican, the N word. I’m used to the threats that they will rape me or beat me,”says Helen Ubiñas, a Boricua born in … Continued

Narrated article: Winter tips to stay safe and warm

This month for Innovation in Focus we tested various tools and platforms to provide narration for articles to make them more accessible. Listen to this article narrated: https://soundcloud.com/pili-swanson/narrated-article Here are some tips to staying healthy, safe and warm this winter season as the temperatures begin to drop. The CDC has COVID-19 tips for holiday gatherings, … Continued

When journalists should care about p-values

And when they shouldn’t There’s a saying in statistics: “All models are wrong, but some are useful.” In other words, it’s a little quixotic to imagine we can capture the nuances of reality with simple models, but some of these models can make the complex more legible. The first chunk of the saying is the … Continued

Automating election results from local data sources

We teamed up with the Voice of OC, a non-profit, local news site in Orange County, California, to automate their live election results. We teamed up with the Voice of OC, a non-profit, local news site in Orange County, California, to automate their live election results. By integrating data from several authorities, we provided up-to-the-minute … Continued

NAB and Reynolds Journalism Institute announce partnership on COVID-19 vaccine education messaging

Partnership will provide guidance for regional approach to public health education Washington, D.C. — The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute today announced a nationwide research project to identify effective COVID-19 vaccine education messaging. The research findings will be used to develop tools and resources for local radio and … Continued

Saving democracy is a slogan not a strategy

In the past four years, I’ve seen increasingly fervent articles, studies and op-eds declaring journalism’s essential role in a healthy democracy. As we’ve heard many times before, local news is critical to informing communities and promoting civic engagement. The very presence of a local news organization revives democracy, underpins democracy, sustains democracy, and yet these proclamations have been strikingly disconnected from reality.