Being a journalist is exciting. It is a job that involves making interesting interviews, research, writing, and meeting new people. The job comes with various tasks and some of them are less exciting than others. Considering that there are numerous tools online for making work easier, it is truly important to do your research and find all the ways how you can do your job faster and in a much simpler way. We have found a few digital tools that can make your work easier. Keep reading to find out more!
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Transcribear
Typing the interviews yourself can be very demanding and time-consuming. If you simply cannot type anymore and you want to use your time in a better way to do other tasks you like more, you should look into using a tool for automatic transcription such as Transcribear. You can simply upload the audio file of the interview you have done and you will get a transcript in a matter of minutes. There is also the option of manual transcription if you want to keep the file private and safe on your computer. It is pretty simple for use.
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Currents
Having inside information about the current situation has always been the essence of journalism. However, since there are numerous news on the internet being updated every second, it is important to stay in the loop and write about the news that people want to read.
The tool Currents is essential for the journalists who want to be up to date and to provide the relevant content. Not only you will get relevant information, but you will also drive the traffic to the website you are publishing the news on which is crucial. It is completely free for use and it offers a priceless insight about what works and what does not.
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TinEye
Fake news is a huge issue for journalists. Making sure that the information you are reading and using as the material for the content you are creating is essential for being a responsible journalist. TinEye is a tool for checking if the images are fake or not if they are used somewhere else. You will get a list of websites where it has already been used which will make your job a lot easier. Also, you will get a piece of information if the image was somehow edited. This way you will have a much clearer idea about the image you are looking at.
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Google Dataset Search
If you want to provide relevant news to the readers, you need quality resources. Google Dataset was made with the researchers in mind, so journalists can find it truly useful. You just need to type in the topic you are interested in and you will get relevant articles with all the information that you need such as author, publication dates, and providers. Data is inseparable from journalism. It is the only way to be able to inform the public.
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IntelTechniques
If your job comes down mostly to investigative reporting then you will consider this tool absolutely precious. You will be able to get all the information that you want to find out about someone’s social profile, their background or simply to find someone you are interested in. It is a tool that will make your life easier.
Social media exposure is the term that is becoming more and more important as we speak. Every post that we publish tells more about us and makes dots that someone can connect to tell a story about us. Well, the whole purpose of investigative journalism is to find out more about the person of interest. It can tell a lot about the integrity of the person and show the bigger picture.
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AccountAnalysis
With the popularization of social media, people started opening fake accounts to be able to publish things that they usually wouldn’t under their real names. This particularly applies to Twitter users. This tool can tell the journalists more about the user they are interested in – the type of content they publish when they publish it and when are they usually the most active. It can also show if the user is a real person or just a bot.
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Hemingway
Every journalist knows how important it is to write good content. It is what you will be known for. In order to improve your writing style, you need to get reliable feedback. There is an online version, as well as the desktop app of Hemingway. Polish your writing skills and do everything you can that the content you deliver to the audience is truly worth reading. Every good journalist works on his skills to make sure that the quality is undisputed and this app will help you achieve the quality you want.
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Toby
Research can truly be a struggle. Dozens of open tabs and numerous information that need to be compared, read, and selected. If you simply cannot make any sense of it sometimes that even your computer simply stops responding at the crucial moment, you should try Toby. It is a Chrome extension that will make your job easier. You will be able to create collections or tab-groups, so you can group them together and find them easier later. It is pretty handy and useful.
These are the most important and useful tools that will help you do your job the best way possible, in our opinion. Make sure you test each one and find out more about the features that they offer. Being smart about tackling the workload is of the essence in delivering results in the shortest period possible. As soon as you test them, you will realize that many of them, if not all, will soon find their way into your daily routine, so you can use your time wisely and deliver the articles and news the way you want to. The only thing left for you to do is to test them and see how your work gets done faster!
