Network social media strategy
Instagram (and TikTok) have seen news consumption increase over the past three years. Users of these social platforms also tend to be younger, more diverse and more closely align with our target audiences.
Author: Mackenzie Warren
Curate newsletters that win with readers
Newsletters are a powerful tool to move readers down the subscriber funnel. Here’s how to master them.
More training on Audience Engagement:
Develop an audience plan for a big winner in the making
Audience plans are an outline of social, alert, boost and publish plans for a story we expect to be a big win.
More training on Audience Engagement:
Unlock the value in evergreen stories
Re-sharing allows us to grow subscribers through bringing forward interesting stories that retain enduring value.
More training on Planning:
The art of “goosing” to extend the value of our best content
We can improve premium stories that underperformed to help “goose” the story to get it out of the underperforming category and to assess what we could have done better. These conversations assess various aspects of the story, and the expectation is that people come to the discussion with an open mind, a good attitude and a willingness to reconsider decisions made in the story’s initial editing or planning.
More training on Audience Engagement:
Packaging, proofing and design center workflows for the CCJ
Making it all come together is a complex orchestra.
More training on Planning:
How to move searchers through the subscriber funnel
Using your unique content to turn visitors into subscribers.
More training on Audience Engagement:
How to use heat maps
Heat maps are a great resource to help determine the best times for publishing a story.
More training on Audience Engagement:
Digital strategies and best practices
Readers in our growth audience segments tell us these are key parts of the day when they’re seeking to engage in news.
More training on Planning:
Digital optimization 101
A playbook for getting the best readership performance from our content.
More training on Digital design and production:
A quick guide to digital 1As
As digital planners, one of the easiest and clearest ways to think about content is in terms of a Digital 1A. Like our print 1As, our digital 1As are where we put our best content.
More training on Digital design and production:
Your handy guide to Presto in production
The updated figures are below. The grand total is $242K, or $20K per period. It works out to $101 per paycheck for those involved.
More training on Planning:
To the Point 101 — Why we’re doing it and what successful TTP looks like
We know our younger digital readers are seeking scannable, easy-to-digest content. Here’s what it is (and isn’t), how our efforts so far are helping us reach readers with premium and metered content and some successful examples on how newsrooms are putting it to use and making it a priority.
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Our 2023 video strategy explained
How we will reach new readers, delight and entertain and share great stories.
More training on Video:
Case study — High-end video storytelling
A reporter and photographer/videographer from Louisville collaborate to document the lives of survivors of a catastrophic tornado.
More training on Video:
Our 2023 video strategy explained
How we will reach new readers, delight and entertain and share great stories.
Skill:
Level:
Google tools for journalists
Google Fact-Check Explorer, Google Public Data Explorer, Google Trends, Google search shortcuts/advanced search), MapChecking for crowd size estimates, PhantomBuster, VisualPing for tracking website updates and other cool tools and hacks.
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Microsoft Excel 05 – What if
The more data you have, the more questions you will have about it, and the more answers it can provide. Excel has a variety of conditional formulas that let you evaluate subsets of your data to find the stories to tell: If…Then formulas; Conditional Functions; XLOOKUP; Array Functions.
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Foundations of data journalism – Scraping
Data scraping web pages with Google sheets, scraping PDFs with Tabula and PDFtoExcel. Build graphics with Flourish Studio. We’ll also explore how to scrape data from a photograph using Excel.
More training on Leadership:
Microsoft Excel 04 — Pivot tables
Pivot table are the simple solution for some, and a rare kind of magic to others. In this session, we’ll demystify pivot tables and show you how you can use them to simplify your analysis and give you more options than ever in how you extract your story.
More training on Investigative:
Digital and print planning basics in the CCJ
Planners manage multi-platform content calendars that reflect tactics based on our audience strategies to deliver maximum impact for our newsrooms’ content.
More training on Planning:
Overview of the roles and interactions of audience and other teams in the CCJ
The audience team will be on the frontline for Network content sharing – statewide, within the CCJ, with the regional teams and to USA TODAY – which will help local reporters’ work reach a wider audience and also supplement local production with relevant, interesting stories from other markets.
More training on Planning:
Microsoft Excel 03 — Top of the charts
Numbers gives us the facts, but images tell us the story. In this session, we’ll show you how to create charts from your data, leverage Excel’s suggestions, modify them to put the focus where you want it: Recommended Charts; Customizing Charts; Exploring Different Chart Types; Working with Chart Elements.
More training on Reporting & Writing:
More training on Career Building:
Copyright law refresher
Gannett’s top First Amendment attorney joins us to discuss copyright law and other intellectual property rules that protect us, and that we need to be aware of.
More training on Legal:
Ethics around graphic violence imagery
Guidance and best practices around videos containing graphic violence.
Skill:
Level:
Rights-cleared music you can use
Get the right sound, within intellectual property law.
Skill:
Level:
Excel 01 – Welcome to Excel
In this session we’ll start at A1 and introduce you to the basics of Excel, how it’s structured, and how to get around in it. We’ll show you how you can start using formulas to take Excel beyond just a list of stuff.
- What is a spreadsheet?
- Worksheets vs tabs
- Columns vs Rows
- Simple Formulas
- Simple Sorting
- Turning Data Sets into Tables
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Cool tools for journalists
We will dig into several investigative and productivity tools you can incorporate into your reporting right now. We’ll explore VisualPing.io for tracking website updates, PhantomBuster.com for scraping Google Maps, the Salo App for recording front/back camera videos on your phone, 123apps.com for file conversion and dozens of phone apps and other tools.
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Transcription and translation in Microsoft Word
In this session, we’ll teach you how to create transcripts of your interviews in Word on the web. We’ll explore Word’s dictation features and highlight its ability to translate between different languages.
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Coping with the stress and trauma of journalism, using our EAP benefit
The EAP provides qualified counseling experts for you and your family members. It is free and confidential. This 60-minute session from EAP facilitator Gwen Kinsey will reintroduce this benefit and answer questions about how to use it. Gwen will also focus on the effects of stress, trauma and burnout for journalists.
More training on Self-care:
Coping with stress, trauma and burnout
We focus on the effects of stress, trauma and burnout on individuals and teams, and offer guidance and recommendations for how to cope most effectively. This provides a grounding in trauma science and basic awareness of the impact of trauma exposure and related stresses along with evidence-based strategies and practices in wellness and collegial support.
More training on Self-care:
November 2022 video champions
How they did it: Cincinnati Enquirer’s “Taken” documentary; OTT metrics and highlights; Florida’s coverage of Hurricane Ian.
More training on Video:
Our 2023 video strategy explained
How we will reach new readers, delight and entertain and share great stories.
Skill:
Level:
Converting criminal justice coverage to social justice coverage
As we rethink how to cover crime in our communities, what should newsrooms focus on and how do they make it happen? We’ll dig into how to elevate two main buckets: live crime coverage and cold case coverage, and talk about how to identify the right stories that will resonate in your community while juggling daily beat coverage and limited resources. Join us for a deeper conversation around how social justice storytelling can help humanize even the most tragic of stories and how we can ensure our reporting serves both our communities and our readership goals.
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Covering retail and inflation
Learn how to use tools like Google Shopping, Keepa and CamelCamelCamel to track prices. Also: How to use the Consumer Price Index, use inflation calculators and other tools for tracking prices and fraudulent online sellers/reviewers.
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Data visualization: InfoGram 201
Students will use datasets to build more advanced maps and single chart graphics.
More training on Design:
New England Table Stakes final reports
- What the teams set out to do
- What they achieved (outcomes/wins)
- New capabilities they have
- How they incorporated the Fault Lines
- Tried but failed: Lessons learned; how they’ll overcome this as they go on
- Ideas to steal (smaller than the whole challenge)
- Where each newsroom will go from here, both with the challenge itself and more broadly
More training on Project Management:
Understanding the financial side of our business
Learn how to make the budget work for you, rather than the other way around.
Skill:
Level:
Don’t count words. Make your words count.
Writing concise, to the point stories isn’t about cutting until you’re under the limit. It’s about writing the story with the right words and nothing more. We’ll talk about finding the one thing that will drive your story, how a zero draft can start you in the right place, the magic of reading aloud and the secret sauce of short yet authoritative writing (that one, as they say, may shock you).
More training on Reporting & Writing:
10 ways to achieve equity in your storytelling
Not every single person will reflect the audience in their storytelling. As journalists do more inclusive and intersectional storytelling, how do we make sure whoever is photo editing, headline writing, storytelling, etc. has tips that are good to know before they even get started? A diverse team of journalists in DEI jobs and teams across the company compiled their insights to help. Sessions will feature a mix of trainers led by audience and trust director C.J. Benjamin who will delve into the tips.
More training on Diversity & Inclusion:
Putting metrics to use on your beat
Part 2 of our metrics refresher. What does success look like? How do you translate what your metrics are telling you into story ideas or deeper insights into what your audience is seeking – both for premium content and reaching new readers with top of funnel content? Plus, an overview of the new Author dashboard that gives you insights into your content, orders and from where orders are coming (social maybe?!).
- https://dashboards.usatodaynetwork.com/
- To see your site’s benchmarks, use this direct link or start with the link ^ and click “content benchmarks” in the list: https://datastudio.google.com/s/vWO29obE0IQ
- Reporter byline dashboard direct link or again use link ^ and click that in list: https://datastudio.google.com/s/gJ4-LD1DPWs
- Access Parse.ly via Okta at first, but you can bookmark any page with in Parse.ly with the “save view” button or in Chrome as usual and usually won’t have to log in repeatedly. Highly recommend the auto-open tabs.
- Resource: A demo of a 6-min reporter/editor metrics conversation: Cory Myers 6 min beat_meeting_demo.mp4
- Resource: Setting up an emailed author report in Parse.ly: parsely-dashboard-setup-v2-Craig.pdf
- The 101 on how to use Parse.ly/GA dashboards: https://training.usatodaynetwork.com/2022/10/12/metrics-refresher-overview-of-parse-ly-and-google-analytics-dashboards/
More training on Audience Engagement:
Data visualization: Canva and Venngage 201
Students will use a set of data points and data sets to build static and interactive graphics. We also will show how Flourish interfaces with Canva, since Canva now owns it.
More training on Design:
Antisemitism briefing by the American Jewish Committee
During this interactive briefing, we will share the results from the American Jewish Committee’s annual survey of the Jewish community and the public about experiences and perceptions of antisemitism. The data is very revealing about the issue and how it appears in the United States today. We also will review the most recent FBI Hate Crime data and how it correlates with the survey. We will discuss the history of antisemitism, where it comes from and its evolving nature. We will discuss how to recognize subtle and blatant forms of antisemitism so that reporters will be able to recognize it when they see it. We will then take questions and have a robust discussion.
More training on Diversity & Inclusion:
Transitioning from Final Cut Pro to Adobe Premier
A primer on making the transition from Final Cut Pro to Adobe Premiere. This session will be led by Justin Schultz, Senior Editor, Digital Video Franchises. There are benefits to using Premiere over FCP, which include cost-savings on software licensing for your newsroom, ability to use Gannett-provided motion graphics templates, project collaborating/sharing, and more.
More training on Video:
Our 2023 video strategy explained
How we will reach new readers, delight and entertain and share great stories.
Skill:
Level:
Data visualization: Datawrapper 301
A deep dive on building choropleth and location maps. In 75 minutes we will build three maps, based on both US and global data. We will work on a more advanced chart and focus more on adding tooltips and footnotes in the charts.
More training on Investigative:
Metrics refresher: Overview of Parse.ly and Google Analytics dashboards
This training is recommended for new employees. We cover the basics of how to use our metrics tools. Any employee is welcome to join, though, if you’d like a refresher.
What we cover:
- Using Parse.ly to see what audiences are reading in real time
- Using Parse.ly to see what audiences are reading for a specific author, topic or for past days/weeks/months
- Using G.A. dashboards to see how many orders are tied to their stories (last 20 mins or so)
- Using G.A. dashboards to see photo gallery or video views (last 20 mins or so)
Before the training: Please make sure you have the Okta chicklet for both these programs already. This will allow you to follow along during the training. If you do not have these, let Kelli Leonard know and she’ll get you set up.
More training on Metrics tools:
Google Trends 301
How to download data from the Google Trends store and create Flourish graphics with it. Also: Tracking midterm election issues and candidates. How can you use Trends during an election?
Prerequisite: Review this 101-level course.
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Reddit: How journalists can use the platform to grow audience, find sources and more
With 430 million active users, Reddit is a gold mine of opportunity for journalists — but diving in can be challenging. In this session, we’ll help you learn how to confidently navigate the platform to discover and promote stories, find sources, cultivate relationships with new and existing audiences, and more.
More training on Social:
Google MyMaps 301
Students will build layered maps. We will show them how to work multimedia into the map. We’ll use real data they can download. Bonus: We also will show how to use PhantomBuster to scrape data OUT of Google Maps.
Click here to download the handout used in the below recorded workshop.
More training on Design:
Measure the impact of your newsroom’s best journalism
The Detroit Free Press proves its worth to its subscribers and its community every year with its annual Community impact Report. In this 30-minute workshop, executive editor Anjanette Delgado will explain how the Freep tracks the results of its work — the real-world change that happens as a result of their journalism (law changes, government investigations, arrests, prison releases, lawsuits, settlements, amnesty, community activation, etc.) — so it can publish the comprehensive year-end report. The Community Impact Report isn’t just a celebration of what our journalism achieved. It’s a huge help in retaining existing subscribers and attracting new ones.
Here are the slides from the workshop.
Here’s an easy guide to how to make a community impact report.
And here’s where to find Impact Tracker: behind Okta.
The Detroit Free Press’ Community Impact Report 2021
Wisconsin’s impact report 2021
Metric reports that include impact
Impact summary (download your impacts, your site’s, your region’s, the Network’s, a funder’s)
Daily site summary (MTD by site)
Monthly KPI report (full month, all network)
How did that content do? (to come, single story)
More training on Digital design and production:
Data visualization: Flourish 201/301
Easily turn your data into stunning charts, maps and interactive visuals for your stories. We will unlock the advanced features and settings in Flourish that will help you animate and bring your stories to life, while remaining true to our styles and branding.
Prerequisite: The training will build on what we did here. The prerequisite focuses on the database portion; this follow-up will be more about the wide range of visualizations one can do with this tool.
Over 75-90 minutes, our guide, Mike Reilley, will supply students with a series of datasets and walk them through how to build an interactive map, parliament chart, time ticker, animated chart, etc. We also will show how to build midterm election candidate bios in Flourish.
Download the handout used in the below recorded workshop.
More training on Design:
How to tell a story in 60 seconds or less on vertical video
Learn how to easily tell a story for audiences on TikTok, Instagram or YouTube. Led by Wisconsin DOT Manager Lainey Seyler and producer Brooke Eberle, the session give tips on planning, creating and writing a script for vertical videos.
More training on Social:
Management fundamentals: Prioritizing and delegating
Illinois state editor Romando Dixson shares how he sets priorities, delegates tasks and projects and delivers results.
More training on Project Management:
Understanding the financial side of our business
Learn how to make the budget work for you, rather than the other way around.
Skill:
Level:
Instagram for journalists
What are all these Instagram terms I hear and why do they matter to my work? Get a crash course on the basics of Instagram and how the platform can help your stories reach a different audience in this one-hour course led by Des Moines Register Audience Strategist Brian Smith.
More training on Social:
Tips for sharing premium content on social
Want to increase the number of orders you are getting on your stories? Get tips on how to best share premium content on social from Content Strategist Jaime Cárdenas.
Above is the recording of the workshop. Below is the deck the presenters used.
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Twitter tips for journalists
Learn how to plan out a Twitter Thread, why Twitter Moments are important and get a refresher on the basics of the platform in this one-hour session led by Detroit Free Press Audience Editor Brian Manzullo.
USA TODAY’s Audience and Operations Editor Felecia Wellington’s guide to Twitter: Spaces
Buck County Courier-Times reporter Christopher Ullery’s template for creating a Twitter Thread
More training on Social:
More training on Investigative:
Understanding our key audience segments
Gannett has done extensive research into people interested in news — those who are in our audience today as well as those who aren’t — so we can better understand who we’re working for. These documents and workshops will help you understand the segments, what members of each segment want from us, and how we can earn them as subscribers.
More training on Audience Engagement:
More training on Digital design and production:
More training on Investigative:
More training on Investigative:
Environment tools, Part III
We’ll explore some new tools, such as the Environmental Justice Atlas that documents cases around the world of environmental infractions. We’ll also look at Protected Planet, which tracks conservation measures, and the Wildlife Dashboard.
Link to handout: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u8baziYFYUyUNzGlCCYEoN_KN1afGN9lk_7wyTU4jXs/edit
Journalist’s Toolbox Environment Tools: https://www.journaliststoolbox.org/category/environment/
More training on Investigative:
Data portals: Datahubs, USA Facts and the Humanitarian Exchange
In this training, Mike Reilley will show you how to use three portals to find datasets and even some pre-built graphics.
Open these up before playing the video so you can do your own searches during the training:
USA Facts
https://usafacts.org/
Hundreds of government-generated data and fact sheets about many issues: crime, business, public safety, etc.
Datahub.io
https://datahub.io/search
There are thousands of datasets from financial market data and population growth to cryptocurrency prices. If you don’t find what you are looking for ask the Data Concierge for a free quote to find the data for you.
The Humanitarian Data Exchange
An open-source data portal from the United Nations containing more than 20,000 datasets. Show caution and vett the data you find here as it is open source. Many are posted by nonprofits and special-interest groups, which are clearly marked and have information available about them.
Journalist’s Toolbox Public Records resources: https://www.journaliststoolbox.org/category/public-records/
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Sports databases: Google Flourish and AirTable
Sports are built on data. We’ll work through a series of exercises to build interactive databases of sports data. This can be an effective tool at all levels of sports coverage: A searchable database of college football stats, salaries of high school football coaches in your state, sortable by conference, town, etc. Or professional sports salaries, player stats and more. Tools: https://flourish.studio/ and https://airtable.com/
Dataset: 100 Highest-Paid Athletics 2021
Source: Sportico | https://www.sportico.com/c/business/finance/
Journalist’s Toolbox Sports Data: https://www.journaliststoolbox.org/2022/06/11/sports-data/
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Business tools, Part IV: Covering inflation and consumer prices
Learn how to use inflation calculation tools and track prices on Amazon, eBay and other digital platforms. Tools include the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Keepa.com, Google Shopping, FormDs.com and several other resources. We’ll also look at tools for spotting fake online sellers and fake reviews on online sales sites.
Link to handout: http://bit.ly/googlefinancetools
Journalist’s Toolbox Retail/Inflation tools: https://www.journaliststoolbox.org/2022/06/12/consumer_retail_inflation/
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Productivity: 123Apps and TinyWow
We look at a new (and older): A look at browser-based Swiss Army knife tools that will help your productivity. They help with file management and conversion, quick video edits and more.
Tools:
123apps: https://123apps.com/
Tinywow: https://tinywow.com/
Journalist’s Toolbox Productivity resources: https://www.journaliststoolbox.org/category/productivity/
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Scraping Google Maps with PhantomBuster
PhantomBuster.com lets you scrape up to 200 locations off Google Maps and drop them into a spreadsheet with ease. It allows you to scrape by address, phone number, Instagram photos and more. PhantomBuster is a paid site but offers a 14-day free trial. Sign up here prior to playing the training video: https://phantombuster.com/
Exercise: https://bit.ly/gannettpb
Journalist’s Toolbox Data Journalism and Scraping: https://www.journaliststoolbox.org/category/data-visualization-and-online-tools/
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Understanding the Fault Lines framework for diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging
Jean Marie Brown of Texas Christian University and the Maynard Institute explores the Fault Lines themselves and reflect on how the framework has been used to shape Table Stakes challenges.
More training on Diversity & Inclusion:
Storytelling Studio and video tools
How to access and use our dynamic, custom and high-impact storytelling tools, including the “In-Depth Framework.”
More training on Photography:
Reporting tools for early-career journalists, Part I
Google Basics: Advanced search, micro-search sites, Trends, MapChecking, fact-checking, etc.
More training on Reporting & Writing:
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Shooting video on your phone
How to get good clips, and what to do with them.
More training on Video:
Our 2023 video strategy explained
How we will reach new readers, delight and entertain and share great stories.
Skill:
Level:
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Understanding the financial side of our business
Learn how to make the budget work for you, rather than the other way around. Our SVP of finance, Tricia Gosser, will help us understand the inner-workings of the financial side of our business. What do you as content executives need to know to be savvy financial operators? Tricia will help you get there.
More training on Project Management:
Empower your research with Lexis/Nexis
How to conduct basic research for news stories.
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Community engagement for underserved communities
Knoxville News Sentinel Executive Editor Joel Christopher leads a Q&A conversation about best practices, challenges and outcomes that emerge from engaging and including different communities in our conversations, newsletters and content. Featuring David Plazas and LeBron Hill from Black Tennessee Voices and Latino Tennessee Voices, Brenna McDermott from Knoxville Digital Advisory Group and Angela Dennis of the Knox News Soul newsletter. Facilitator Cynthia Benjamin.
More training on Diversity & Inclusion:
More training on Digital design and production:
Trans 201
In partnership with former USA TODAY Network journalist Leo Caldwell, we will focus on how to tell holistic stories about trans and gender-diverse individuals. Topics will include: Where are all the trans men? Where are the non-white trans folks? Reporting outside the framework of the gender binary. And understanding how your own gendered lens influences story bias.
More training on Ethics & Standards:
Canva 101
Grace Pateras from the Florida-Georgia DOT gave a walkthrough of some of the best tips and tricks for using Canva. Among the many time-saving features she showed were Background Remover, Positioning, Text Spacing and Text Effects. She also provided a handy shortcuts sheet and showed a lot of great Canva examples from across the network.
More training on Social:
Tools for investigating non-profit organizations
Non-profit organizations operate as small, medium-sized and large corporations. Money comes in and out of the organization. But where does it go? Who is making the decisions? And what can be tracked? We’ll look at free (and paid) digital tools for tracking non-profit finances, what their CEOs earn and much more. We’ll also spend some time looking at Form 990s of charities and give you a chance to pull some on organizations in your area.
More training on Investigative:
Build your own reporting robot
How to use the automation function of Github, a tool for programmers, to create a web scraping bot to automatically gather information and data from the web. Our example will be using it to automate a tedious beat check. We will use: github, X-Ray and a little bit of JavaScript programming. No prior coding knowledge needed. Led by Daniel Lathrop, investigative reporter at the Des Moines Register and Aadit Tambe of the University of Maryland.
More training on Reporting & Writing:
More training on Investigative:
Ramadan Guidance for employees
Here are some tips for an inclusive atmosphere for your Muslim colleagues.
More training on Diversity & Inclusion:
Libel refresher: What reporters need to know to work within the law
The recent Sarah Palin v. New York Times case reminds us that as journalists, we must clearly understand what libel is, and how that definition could evolve with regard to public figures. You don’t need to be a legal expert, but having this basic framework will keep you in compliance with the law while you carry out your duties. We’ll teach you how to spot possible problem areas, ask for help and prevent potentially libelous phrasing.
More training on Reporting & Writing:
More training on Design:
DEI tagging for editors and producers
As your newsroom increases storytelling to reflect the communities we serve, what are best practices for tracking the content? Editors and producers are invited to join this session in which we will share revised tags to use for 2022 and what each tag means. Led by Senior Content Strategist Len LaCara and facilitated by Cynthia Benjamin, director of audience engagement and trust.
More training on Diversity & Inclusion:
Extending the reach of our video through social
Our 2022 coverage strategy puts video closer to the center of our work, because it’s more central to our audiences’ expectations.
More training on Social:
How to produce great video from home
USA TODAY’s Sandy Hooper offers tech tips on lighting, sound, interview methods and social media promotion as foundations for excellent video you can produce without a pro studio.
More training on Video:
Our 2023 video strategy explained
How we will reach new readers, delight and entertain and share great stories.
Skill:
Level:
Ethics around graphic violence imagery
Guidance and best practices around videos containing graphic violence. Thanks to all who chimed in with questions on the chat, and special thanks to Michael McCarter, Managing Editor, Standards, Ethics, & Inclusion, Andy Scott, Director, Photo and Video Newsgathering, and Eve Chen, Senior Video Producer for leading today’s discussion.
More training on Photography:
Our 2023 video strategy explained
How we will reach new readers, delight and entertain and share great stories.
Skill:
Level:
Photo Mechanic: Setup and use
USA TODAY’s Bob Deutsch gives a detailed overview of a workhorse tool for photo editing.
More training on Photography:
Our 2023 video strategy explained
How we will reach new readers, delight and entertain and share great stories.
Skill:
Level:
Print design: Ethics and diversity
The choices we make must be truthful, fair, balanced and complete. Each decision happens in the context of many other decisions, both in the same moment and over time.
More training on Diversity & Inclusion:
Print design: Color
Our UNIFIED style guide has a very specific description of how color should be used In our design…based in part on a color palette developed specifically for us.
More training on Design:
Packaging, proofing and design center workflows for the CCJ
Making it all come together is a complex orchestra.
Skill:
Level:
More training on Design:
Packaging, proofing and design center workflows for the CCJ
Making it all come together is a complex orchestra.
Skill:
Level:
Print design: Display type
These items give the reader additional points of entry (or interest) to the stories on the page.
More training on Design:
Packaging, proofing and design center workflows for the CCJ
Making it all come together is a complex orchestra.
Skill:
Level:
More training on Design:
Packaging, proofing and design center workflows for the CCJ
Making it all come together is a complex orchestra.
Skill:
Level:
More training on Design:
Packaging, proofing and design center workflows for the CCJ
Making it all come together is a complex orchestra.
Skill:
Level:
Visual storytelling: Styles and standards
Common design styles and standards are the framework for great visual storytelling. Learn how the design choices we make, from headline size to photo placement, impact reader perception. Led by the Design Center’s GW Babb, David Anesta, Amy Stanfield and Elora Karim.
More training on Design:
Packaging, proofing and design center workflows for the CCJ
Making it all come together is a complex orchestra.
Skill:
Level:
Writing headlines that win with new audiences
The right words aren’t just a powerful way to summarize a story — they’re the best tool we have to reach occasional readers and convert them to paying subscribers. In search and social channels, sharp headlines find and keep loyal audiences. Join content strategy analyst Chris White and Midwest DOT managers Catherine Rogers and Bobby Shipman as they share data-proven ways to craft engaging headlines that bring in new readers again and again. These web gurus scoured our data looking for ways to draw in new readers with powerful headlines. Here’s what they found – and how it can work for your stories.
Study out of Australia … “The effects of subtle misinformation in news headlines.”
Summarized in the New Yorker: https://bit.ly/3gTwMk5
Abstract of the study: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-44652-001
Study out of the Netherlands… “What clicks actually mean”
Abstract : https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1464884916688290
More training on Reporting & Writing:
Data-scraping web pages, PDFs and Google Finance
How to extract data from the web and PDFs and flow them into a spreadsheet. You’ll also learn how to scrape real-time and historical stock data into Google Sheets to track specific companies or industries.
More training on Investigative:
Project-manage like a pro
Here’s how to deliver on a big project with many moving people and parts. Ten tips in 60 minutes from the Digital Optimization team’s Jessica Davis and Ana Hurler that will help you simplify and win.
More training on Project Management:
Identifying discrimination through data
Jayme Fraser of the I-Team and Robbie Gutierrez of the DOT will show how to pick out patterns hiding in data sets.
More training on Investigative:
Your power as an informal leader
You don’t need to have rank and seniority to exert leadership. What you prioritize, what you value, how you listen, how you communicate, whose voices and views you feature, who you lift up, small gestures of mentorship, open-mindedness to advice and counsel — these all are informal acts of leadership. In this conversation with USA TODAY’s executive editor for news, Kristen Go, you’ll learn to recognize and harness this power for good.
More training on Career Building:
Strategic thinking and planning
We look at how one of our biggest news organizations in one of our biggest markets does BIG things. From guiding probing investigative projects to introducing a new pay model to staging a marathon, The Free Press team will share how it sizes up and capitalizes on big opportunities. Hosted by executive editor Peter Bhatia and senior news director/digital Anjanette Delgado.
More training on Planning:
Diversity workshop series: Social fault lines
Description: What are social fault lines and how do we question them, define them and report through them? Applications include: covering race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and disabilities.
Led by: Romi Ruiz of USA TODAY and Earl Hopkins of the Austin American-Statesman
Recommend reading: Sincerely, Leaders of Color, a column series by POC news leaders
Helpful resource: The DEI Coalition’s excellent guide on allyship for white managers
Diversity Tooklit for Newsrooms has a section on Digital Advisory Groups for useful background
Ethics and practices for reporting on traumatized individuals and communities, done in partnership with the Dart Center for Trauma in Journalism