RJI Innovation

Freelancing Quick-Start Guide

Data Sonification Toolkit

Algorithmic Literacy for Journalists

This resource helps develop journalists’ ability to understand the functions, consequences, and ethics of algorithms in a digital age. A core focus of the resource is helping independent journalists and newsrooms whose digital content has been subject to shadowbanning, demonetization, and other forms of online speech filtering that restrict them from reaching a wider audience.

Article as Homepage Toolkit

This resource helps local news publishers rethink the article page to better serve today’s audiences and better meet business needs. The system of design helps you present reporting in rich, multimedia formats, provide audiences with the utility once held in homepages, and include pathways to collect first party data and encourage conversions to deeper forms of support.

The Care & Collaboration Toolkit

A guide to implementing practices that care for, and center, journalists in news organizations

This toolkit serves as a practical resource for news organizations who want to better support their journalists and include them in the decisions that impact their lives and work.

The Defender Handbook

A practical guide to creating a community-centric and digital-first media organization. This handbook is aimed to provide resources and guidance for upcoming BIPOC media professionals, but can be utilized by anyone. We aimed to centralize the wealth of knowledge and traditions from the Radical Black Press, making it easily accessible and serving as a resource for those who wish to innovate and reinvent journalism in a way that best serves our communities.

Visual Toolkit

The toolkit includes sample contracts (photographer, videographer and illustrator databases, ethical stock resources, a list of reputable resources on ethics, what information to include for assignments and examples of opportunities for using visuals to promote newsroom engagement and fundraising.

A toolkit to build sustainable and successful collaborations

This practical toolkit will give you the guidance and resources for a successful collaboration.

Based on interviews with 38 newsrooms and input from 100+, this toolkit provides project manangement, funding and a database to find partners that align with your mission and goals.

A toolkit and model that disrupts the way advertisers invest in diverse communities

Our model prioritizes community engagement over clicks, responsiveness over CTRs, and behavioral changes that uplift communities of color while honoring an advertiser’s need for scale. We seek a new approach to quantifying the value of diverse owned-and-led media.

ARENA

This is a toolkit for journalists on how to partner with ham radio operators in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Trained and equipped, ARENA members stand ready to deploy their radio communication skills and resources to ensure communities remain informed when it matters most. ARENA helps reporters to work internally or in tandem with ham radio operators to disseminate critical information and alerts.

Journalism Source of Safety

Journalism Source of Safety (J-SOS) is an online toolkit that offers trauma-informed and identity-aware journalist safety checklists, tips, gear advice, and other necessary security information for all journalists, including freelancers and students, with an emphasis on equity and ethics.

Prison Journalism Navigator

The Prison Journalism Navigator provides resources to train and collaborate with your local incarcerated community to produce journalism.

It includes sections on Communicating with Prison Journalists, Contacting People Inside by State, Incarceration Data and Other Resources, A Reporter’s Glossary of Prison Jargon and more.

The YESEO app

This Slack based app is free to use and installable in any workspace.

This tool utilizes slash commands in Slack to gather actionable SEO information and insights from your articles and content.

Workshop headlines, view SEO data and identify trends. Available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Black News and Views

Black News and Views is a platform built with NABJ to provide news about Black communities by Black journalists.

BNV also aggregates content from Black journalists at a wide range of news partners, including Black-owned media and national media such as the Washington Post, USA Today, Bloomberg, ESPN, NBC and CNBC.