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

Value of journalism may lie in the art of listening

What value do journalists bring to the news? Boiled down, that’s the question that newspapers, independent news publishers, journalism schools and individual reporters have been contemplating for the last decade. Exactly what is it the news consumers have been paying for? And how do we keep people paying, so that reporters can keep reporting? I’ve … Continued

Newspaper Archive Summit white paper suggests next steps for stakeholders

A mandate to preserve — a white paper (PDF) — was produced for the Newspaper Archive Summit Network by Victoria McCargar, veteran journalist, archivist and digital curation consultant. This white paper provides an assessment of the first Newspaper Archive Summit and offers suggestions for next steps. On April 10-12, 2011, the Reynolds Journalism Institute, MU … Continued

Block by Block: Imagining the sequel(s)

The online community news leaders and their shared passion for local news was the most impressive part of Block by Block: Community News Summit 2010. More impressive — and challenging — is where local editors and publishers take it from here. A big tip of the hat to online publishers, including Susan Mernit, Andre Natta … Continued

Debunking the replacement myth

The tired idea that born-on-the-Web news sites will replace traditional media is wrong-headed, and it’s past time that academic research and news reports reflect that. Jay Rosen, the New York University professor and media critic, calls them “replaceniks,” and it’s an apt term. Rosen is talking about people who insist on evaluating new, born-on-the-web news … Continued

Michele McLellan: Mid-year report

I’ve learned a lot about online civic engagement in fields other than journalism (social causes, politics, even marketing) through conferences, interviews and looking at Web sites. I’ve also connected with numerous community news startups and learned that many of them put civic engagement and community building at the top of their agenda. I think established … Continued

Building new ad revenues could start on the obit page

An interview with Stephanie Padgett as she begins her fellowship year. About five years ago, Stephanie Padgett was doing market research to help smaller, Midwestern newspapers and radio stations. It was quite clear that her research on how to reach more consumers would be useless if the media companies didn’t change their old habits. For … Continued

Incubating a collaboratory

Journalists, entrepreneurs, academics, and experts from the worlds of technology and business will gather on January 21, 2009 at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute for a one-day Talkfest called “Putting Feet on the Streets for Journalism.” The participants’ challenge: to develop plans for the RJI Collaboratory, a news organization incubator. This is why: In … Continued

So you call yourself a journalist. What does that mean?

Reynolds Fellow Mike Fancher and students at the Missouri School of Journalism tackle the question of the century. Mike Fancher was the executive editor at the Seattle Times for 20 years. This year, he’s a fellow at the Reynolds Journalism Institute, where he’s seeking to answer to some of the most important questions facing journalists … Continued

Jane Stevens: Niche news networks

Jane Stevens is editorial director for Oceans Now and an associate faculty member at the Knight Digital Media Center at the University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism. In these new networks, the community is at the core and journalists serve that community. It is the way that things are going. Q: Are newspapers … Continued