Instead of using stock photos, more publishers are using original illustrations to accompany their stories, Laura Hazard Owen writes. Fusion’s art director Kent Hernandez says they usually use illustrations or animations for stories where the topic is abstract or complex and separate pieces of art are created for social media: “We are living in a […]

“Newspapers may provide the proverbial ‘first rough draft of history,’” Susannah Nesmith writes, “but when history moves on, are there still ways to mine value from all that accumulated material, much of it sitting in dusty file cabinets?” The Miami Herald and Alabama Media Group, which includes The Birmingham News and The Huntsville Times, are […]

The Guardian is unveiling a new open-source image management system that makes the process of looking for images simpler. The system not only work for the Guardian’s websites but its print editions as well. The Guardian has been internally using Grid since October, but began offering the open-source product on Wednesday. Guardian developer Sébastien Cevey […]

The Sentinel & Enterprise of Fitchberg, Mass., is handing over its front page to artist Anna Schuleit Haber for 26 days. Schuleit Haber is putting an art installation devoted to the alphabet on the paper’s front page, with a different artist designing each letter. Each day’s newspaper includes a profile of the artist who created […]

Instagram’s overhauled search feature rolled out to its website yesterday, making it easier for users to search by hashtag, location or account. While an Instagram spokesperson said the update is not designed specifically for news organizations, journalists will no longer be restricted to a smartphone when looking for user-generated content on Instagram. Some notable features […]

To “amplify the voices of reporters and photographers in the field,” New York Times social media editor Cynthia Collins says the social media team monitors what staff members are tweeting through a list in Tweetdeck. On Wednesday night, Collins spotted an interesting photo by an NYT staff photographer of Confederate flags as President Obama arrived […]

The National Union of Journalists is applauding the Irish Times after it refused to sign a “rights-grabbing” photography contract for two sold-out Taylor Swift concerts in Dublin. The contract says photographs can only be taken during the second and third songs of Swift’s set and “may be used on a one-time only basis for news […]

Zach Kitschke, Canva’s head of communications, says that as the Internet becomes a shouting match, it’s not about who shouts the loudest but who shouts the smartest. To make people stay on the page, share your article and remember what they read, Kitschke says visuals are essential. People only retain 20 percent of what they […]

At Thomson Reuters, head of archives Tim Redman oversees the digitization of Reuters’ archive. Reuters is mostly processing video and film, and Redman says Reuters’ digital archives will complete its “end to end news service” by making news articles, photos and videos available within one platform. Redman says: “It’s very satisfying to have material that […]

New York Times social editor Talya Minsberg says when you first look at Snapchat, you’ll realize that your preconceived notions of the app are mostly false: “There are really creative individuals and organizations making some pretty compelling stories on Snapchat, and watching a story on Snapchat is less passive than you may think.” For the […]