Short Takes: How data uncovered great stories

Who said there would be math? In a field that can attract mathematically challenged individuals, data has become an essential tool for journalists. During the 2019 spring semester, student producers behind Gray Television’s OTT show “Post” showcased 20 pieces of journalism, most of which would not be possible without data.

California trip makes us a stronger team

If you’ve watched the reaction video taken at the RJI Tech Showcase in late April, you probably already know just how shocked we were to win the app competition. We didn’t even all know each other before starting the competition, so getting to this point was pretty surreal for us. We had no idea what … Continued

Journalism, the intelligence community and technology

Editor’s note: The author, who spent a year as an RJI Fellow exploring ways to report and create news stories using databases, has recently received funding to develop intelligence applications of his Structured Stories journalism database. The funding is being provided by the U.S. federal government’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.

The rise of messaging is undeniable, and it’s not just text

Mobile messaging was born in December 1992 with a simple SMS: “Merry Christmas.” Today it’s the most ubiquitous form of human communication short of speaking. Any of the 6 billion of us with a phone can do it. And with the advent of apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, Line, WeChat and Telegram, messaging is … Continued

FL#161: 5 tips for email newsletters

Email newsletters Email newsletters are far from new, but recently there’s been a resurgence in their popularity. With this renewed interest come new techniques. We look at five innovative approaches to delivering newsletters, inspired by Clover Letter, BuzzFeed and TheSkimm.Reporting by Whitney Matewe. For more information: BuzzFeed has 12 core newsletters but, in total, close … Continued

Examining the new conceptualization of entrepreneurial journalism

The dominant scholarly understanding of and approaches to journalism do not match the variety of practices that make up journalism today. The profession’s recent reconfiguration as a post-industrial, entrepreneurial and altogether atypical way of working calls for new ways to investigate, theorize and teach journalism. Our fellowship project at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute … Continued

Tracy Clark’s take on 15 news aggregation apps: Part 2

Google Play Newsstand Google has made several attempts at media aggregation, first with Google News in 2002, which was deemed beta for the first three years. It promotes itself as a service that “aggregates real-time news content from news sources around the world, generating 72 editions in 55 languages, and powering Google’s news search. In … Continued