As more people, especially in younger generations, rely on social media to stay informed, news organizations must figure out how to speak to readers in these personal environments. How can a journalist’s news posts stand out in a newsfeed of both current events and family vacation photos? What we found by examining this question is […]

When Stephanie Grimes arrived at the Las Vegas Review-Journal two years ago as its first audience development director, she arrived to find social media was “a headline RSS feed.” “My first priority was to turn that off and start testing content,” she said. Whether you’re developing a voice for the first time or are changing […]

Before Irene McKisson of the Arizona Daily Star began posting on social media, about 30 people in the newsroom were — and in all different styles. After she had decided what the voice was going to sound like, she revoked others’ social posting permissions and tried to make the voice of each post consistent. But […]

Erica Palan of Philly.com thinks journalists should be having one-on-one conversations with users on social media — as they do in the non-digital world — but that it can be tricky when the branded accounts have authority in a newsroom. “(Communicating as) a brand is different than having a conversation attached to my name,” she said. “It’s […]

One person in a newsroom might work to develop a voice for social media posts, but for it to be most effective, everyone involved must work at it. The best practices suggested below have helped newsrooms of differing sizes integrate voice into their workflows. Newsroom training The Arizona Daily Star’s entire newsroom underwent about two […]

The best practices examples from newsrooms were obtained through a series of phone conversations with engagement editors for primarily legacy print media organizations across the United States. These conversations discussed, among other topics, how these media organizations considered and approached voice in different posting scenarios, challenges they have overcome, challenges they still face and practices […]

Most people who studied journalism or communication at a broad selection of schools across the United States believe that fact-checking journalism — a relatively new form of accountability reporting in politics — is effective at improving political discourse, according to a new survey. About two-thirds of graduates of communication and journalism, or 65 percent, across […]

Pursuing a story in a foreign area can be complicated and dangerous. Enter “fixers,” local people who for years have been helping journalists and other visitors make arrangements during foreign assignments. The duties of fixers vary by industry and project. In journalism, a fixer might be someone who knows a city well and can handle […]

Significant numbers of journalism and communication graduates now practice what they consider journalism, even though they don’t work for traditional news organizations, our survey of journalism school graduates found. The survey probed this phenomenon with several questions, including asking people to explain in very granular terms what skills they employ in their work and what […]

One question virtually everyone in media hears at one point or another is whether the world of journalism, with all the possibilities and disruption caused by technology, is getting better or worse. The survey asked a series of questions that probed this. The answers varied significantly depending on where people worked in the media, their […]