Six Top Digital Tools that can make Life Easier for Journalists

by | Last updated Oct 13, 2022 | Published on Mar 23, 2021 | Digital Transcription

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Digital Tools

Digital media has impacted journalism more than many industries. The key to succeeding in the world of digital journalism is using the right tools. With stringent deadlines, journalists need to focus on telling their story and innovative tools can make their task easier. Digital transcription services can help optimize audio and video content for SEO and expand the audience.

Here are 6 must-have digital tools for journalists:

  • Call Recorder App: A call recording application is a mobile application that records incoming and outgoing calls. Journalists would need to use their phone to conduct an interview when a video interview is not possible. Call recorder apps record phone calls automatically and allow recordings to be sorted by date, duration and time. There is no limit for recording communication and the files can be easily downloaded to your computer. They also allow you to create an electronic backup of your call recordings on the cloud. There are multiple options to choose from such as, Cube Call Recorder ACR App, Voice Recorder Pro, Blackbox Call Recorder, Otter Voice Notes, and so on.
  • Grammarly: This is an automated tool for checking grammar and punctuation. The software integrates with your computer or smartphone and detects grammar and punctuation mistakes, poor phrasing of words in emails and blogs, and other errors, all within minutes. Grammarly helps journalists write crisply and correctly which significantly eases the task of editing. It can give your work a professional touch. While the free version can help you avoid embarrassing mistakes, the paid version, which is expensive, is recommended for journalists as they write a lot.
  • Google Dataset Search: Launched by Google in 2018, Dataset Search is a search engine for datasets. A simple keyword search will help users discover datasets hosted in thousands of repositories on the internet. This Google search engine is designed to help journalists find the data they need to create accurate stories and reports. Along with links to the results, it displays the datasets’ descriptions, publication dates, authors, and providers. “We launched Dataset Search, so that scientists, data journalists, data geeks, or anyone else can find the data required for their work and their stories, or simply to satisfy their intellectual curiosity”, said Natasha Noy, Research Scientist, Google AI.
  • Authory: This easy-to-use tool helps back up your content, both published and unpublished. Authory connects you with social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit also allows you to monitor how your articles are performing on these channels. You can set up a newsletter for your audience and turn readers into email subscribers. On your Authory page, people can subscribe to get email notifications about your new articles with a single click. Authory offers a 14 days free trial and monthly subscription costs $8.
  • BuzzSumo: Buzzsumo works on keyword research, tracking, and statistics to support content discovery. With BuzzSumo, you get content and catchy headline ideas at your fingertips. It constantly crawls the web and social media and brings you the most popular content in any niche. BuzzSumo allows you to browse topics, trends and forums based on specific keywords and get content ideas. It shows you the headlines that are performing best for the topic you have in mind. BuzzSumo also provides alerts to keep you updated on important events.
  • EverNote: This note-taking app has been in use for more than a decade and is still a trusted tool for media professionals. It is available for all the major desktop and mobile operating systems and can create, organize and sync notes among multiple platforms. Evernote comes with several helpful capabilities, allowing users to record audio, make lists, mark up documents, set reminders, and share notes and add attachments to them. One of the most useful features of Evernote is its web-clipping tool that runs as a browser add-on and lets you capture content from the web, organize it and find it easily and use it.

Besides these tools, there are several automatic transcription software tools that can convert audio and video recordings into text quickly. Transcripts improve access to the content and help with post-production editing. Journalists also use transcripts to find obtain text quotes, key phrases and information from a recorded interview. But the drawback of automated transcription tools is that they often fail to provide the desired accuracy. That’s where an audio/video transcription service can be of assistance. All you need to do is to upload your files to the browser-based drop box or secure FTP and the transcription agency will convert them into accurate, well-formatted text and deliver the files safely to you in time to meet your deadlines.

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