All this information is publicly available in The Register of Members’ Financial Interests, an online website updated fortnightly that tracks money that UK MPs receive on top of their salaries.
Its main purpose is "to provide information about any financial interest which a Member has, or any benefit which he or she receives, which others might reasonably consider to influence his or her actions or words as a Member of Parliament.” Or, put simply, it looks at money that may influence British politics.
The caveat is that the register is incredibly hard to navigate, says Clare Spencer, research and development producer, BBC News, UK, at the JournalismAI Festival today. So she joined forces with Juan Ginzo, principal data scientist, at The Times to create a tracker that uses generative AI to help journalists use this resource more easily.
MP Interests Tracker is a research tool that helps journalists analyse and compare data that is often inconsistent. For instance, MPs can write company names in different formats, or phrase their interests in various ways. This makes it harder to make connections between the politicians and the companies and understand how the money flows.
The tool extracts the raw register entries and breaks them down to clearer data, using Open AI GPT-3.5 as a backend. It then creates a structured version of the data that journalists can analyse to find those high-ticket items or tie MPs to specific companies and industries.
Ginzo adds that MP Interests Tracker works well for surfacing ideas for stories and finding those needles in the haystack. However, it is not 100 per cent reliable and it may miss some important data or get false negatives.
However, like with anything produced by generative AI, all results should be checked against the source for accuracy.
According to the creators, the tracker is easy to prototype. They are currently testing it and once it is in a good enough shape, they want to turn it into a product.
]]>Missing Perspectives is a media tech company that reaches 1.5m people across 120 countries. It seeks to correct the underrepresentation of young women in the news industry worldwide.
Its new directory allows both reporters and newsrooms to sign up, with the idea of connecting newsrooms with women talent and expert sources. For the purposes of this platform, a woman is defined as someone who "lives and identifies as female though they may have been said to have a different sex at birth."
It is currently soft-launched and has around 190 early users. It will be formally launching in February 2024.
Cost: Free for reporters. Missing Perspectives charges a 2 per cent fee to newsrooms on all payments processed through the directory.
How is it of use to journalists?
"The directory will connect newsrooms with perspectives that are often overlooked or absent in mainstream media - with an initial focus on young women from marginalised communities aged 18-35," says founder Phoebe Saintilan-Stocks in an email to Journalism.co.uk.
Women who are registered in the directory will be able to take on posted assignments from national and international newsrooms. They can post pitches and story ideas directly to newsrooms - and manage their bookings, commissions and invoices through the app.
Newsrooms and media enterprises can search the database, filtering for region, country, lived experience, and theme/topic. Newsrooms can also post callouts for talent and stories, and access pitches from reporters and content creators.
Missing Perspectives has also received interest from universities, brands, and film and production houses who are interested in using the app to connect with women professionals.
]]>For your next article, consider one of these ten handy websites for accessing free images. Do note that some websites have paid-for options too, while others are free but come with different licence agreements, so always make sure you check the terms and conditions before going into download mode.
Photo by Anika Huizinga on Unsplash
A free image site for pictures uploaded by photographers from around the world that can be downloaded and used without the need to credit the author. Simply use keywords in the search bar and find an image that matches your topic.
All images are free to use, modify and share for any personal or commercial use. Attribution is not required but upon downloading the file, there is an option to accredit images through a copy and paste function which makes the good practice easy-peasy.
Pixabay works in much the same way as Unsplash. It is a free image site which you can use to download images, illustrations and vectors, but also videos, all without spending a penny or requiring permission.
Do note that search results also feature sponsored content from Shutterstock, which can be purchased as royalty-free images.
The problem with stock image sites is that they can quickly become quite one-note and generic. It can also be time-consuming to find the right image, and even then, you might struggle to stand out against your competitors.
Death To Stock (for short) looks to 'kill the stock block'. It offers specialised media packs, which are shot by photographers around the world, edited by the in-house team and made available to its subscribers.
There are membership tiers available priced at $12 a month for brands and businesses and $42 a month for designers and agencies, discounted when paid annually. This gets you unlimited downloads and access to the full database, which is updated monthly.
If this is outside your budget, you have some free options too. There are downloadable free goodie bag packs, a standard 14-day free trial, or occasional free photo packs if you sign up with your email.
All images are under a content-end user licence. This means that you can use the images however you see fit, so long as you are not redistributing them as your own. There are also some restrictions to what the images can be used for.
Unless otherwise stated, all content on the Creative Commons website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence, though there are other types of Creative Commons licences.
The 4.0 licence means that the material is free to copy, share and adapt for any use, including commercial, so long as appropriate credit is given. The website also provides public domain content, which means you can help yourself to it.
There are more than just images available too, you can also find literary works, videos, audio and other research. For images, head to the search function and use keywords to find what you are looking for. You can also narrow the search by filtering by commercial or modified use, and there are other filters on the search results page - a useful one is the drop down menu to filter by specific licences.
Frank Noon/Mousetrap Media
Flickr is well-established in the photojournalism community as a Creative Commons platform - but it calls itself an 'online photo management and sharing application'.
In other words, photographers can create an account and upload any images which they own the copyright to, and set their own terms of licencing and usage to get their work seen more broadly.
You can search through profiles of photographers and the search results to find an image and use it according to the individual restrictions in place.
Most users operate a Creative Commons licence specifying particular use or attribution, while others are marked as all rights reserved, which means you cannot use the images in any way without first contacting the user and reaching a licence agreement.
This stock image site offers photos, illustrations and vectors under a variety of licensing options, from free non-commercial use to creative commons. This means you can download most images for free and use them without attribution. That said, if you are feeling generous and if you have the budget, you can show your appreciation by donating any amount via PayPal or Moneybookers.
What makes StockVault different to other stock image sites is that the images on the homepage are handpicked by the team, which makes it a tad bit nicer to use.
Sometimes, what you are after is more specialised or niche. You can trawl through stock image sites but that can be an ultimately fruitless endeavour.
Launched in July 2017, We Animals Archive is an image archive database created by photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur with the aim of highlighting the lives of animals used for food, fashion, entertainment, work, religion, and experimentation.
It compiles images and videos by the We Animals Archive team. Browse by category or search by keyword and then request the images you would like to use, specifying how you intend to use them. Non-profit organisations may not have to pay but businesses do.
Did we miss any off? Send me your tips
This article was first published on 31 July 2019 by Jacob Granger. It has been updated on 4 August 2023 by Marcela Kunva, removing websites that are defunct and including new ones.
]]>One option is audio articles. By using text-to-speech technology, your website visitors can choose to listen to the article instead of reading it. Our observant readers will notice we provide this option in our articles.
Many other publishers have found this to be a great way to encourage users to take up subscriptions, but it is also a way to increase the accessibility of your stories for those who are visually impaired.
In an article for The Fix Media, tech and media journalist David Tvrdon looks at a handful of tools and tips that enable you to pursue this strategy. Most of the platforms offer free trials so you can have a play around and see what works best for you.
]]>The Global Investigative Journalism Network provides a list of business tools for small newsrooms - crucially, all of them can be used for free, although some do have premium options too.
This covers all of your basic needs: email encryption, password managers, comms, VPNs and more.
]]>As any native English speaker will tell you, English is not a forgiving language. Our grammar and spelling is full of exceptions and contradictions. The famous "journalese" is another kettle of fish altogether (we also use a lot of idioms and expressions). But the point is that good journalism needs to be concise, accurate and interesting all at the same time.
This can often leave the non-native English speaker facing challenges in their writing. Freelance journalist Cristiana Bedei provides on IJNet some tools to help journalists work in English when it is not their mother tongue. These tools assist with building vocabulary, correcting grammar and improving your writing style.
]]>Most people comfortable with video editing software can figure out how to get their heads around it. But if you want to take your skills to the next level, check out this free nine-step course on Videomaker.
It includes a video tutorial on everything from creating projects, cutting up clips, editing colour, adjusting audio, exporting files and much more.
]]>A new monitoring database launched by The International Press Institute (IPI) to document all attacks on journalists and restrictions on media freedom linked to the war in Ukraine.
Cost: Free
How is it of use to journalists? The tracker allows users to refine searches for the location and source (if known) of all war-related violations of press freedom in Ukraine and Russia, as well as Belarus and the wider region. It is backdated to 24 February 2022 when four Russian TV channels were banned in Estonia.
IPI’s monitoring covers all forms of attacks and restrictions, from violence and threats against the safety of journalists and attacks on media infrastructure, to acts of censorship, website blocks, repressive laws, and arrests of journalists. So far, there are more than 200 cases of attacks on journalists and media freedom linked to the war.
Simply filter your search by keywords, alert type, and country. Then click any of the results to take you to the original source.
Screenshot: search results from the IPI Russia-Ukraine tracker
There is also a visualisation tool that pulls the data into graphs and pie charts for you to share or embed in your articles.
The same tool will also allow you to search for attacks on journalists and media freedom linked to covid-19, dating back to February 2020, which can be found in the drop-down menu labelled 'topic'. There are nearly 700 search results in the database related to covid-19.
]]>It will now set out on a research project into the sustainability of around 1,000 digital-first media organisations across 43 European countries. At the end of the year-long project, SembraMedia will produce profiles of each media organisation in English for an interactive database.
It is based on a previous model for Spanish-speaking media in Latin America, the US, Canada and Spain started in 2015. That currently consists of 1,040 media outlets across 24 countries, which can be searched using more than 10 filters, including country, revenue sources, and content focus.
Screenshot from SembraMedia's media directory via Google Chrome Translate
This gives an overview of the 'media ecosystem' of the region as a whole. Currently, you can see that the most common form of funding in the Spanish-speaking media market is direct sales advertising, that two-thirds are for-profit organisations, and that 57 per cent of founders are men.
"It provides a valuable resource for media leaders, investors, academics, and others interested in understanding the trends, challenges, and opportunities for digital media in the region," says Janine Warner, CEO of SembraMedia in an email to Journalism.co.uk.
Screenshot of SembraMedia's ecosystem tool
For the European version, SembraMedia is working with European Journalism Centre, Google News Initiative, International Media Support, and Global Forum for Media Development to create Project Oasis. These organisations bring their regional experience and network to the project.
Madalina Ciobanu, research project director for Project Oasis, says that she aims to spotlight independent digital news organisations and what is working within those institutions - but also what is not working and where more contacts and expertise are needed.
"We hope that the directory will help researchers, funders and those who wish to support journalism in Europe to increase their understanding of what these outlets need at different stages of their growth and in the local context in which they operate, in order to provide them with the right types of resources, funding and support going forward."
In recent years, SembraMedia has helped to co-ordinate media accelerators as well as pioneering research as part of its mission to help digital native media kick on and become sustainable. The media directory has been a crucial source of insights and contacts to provide the right training and consultation.
As part of its move into Europe, SembraMedia will produce an accompanying report to Project Oasis next year. That will contain specific findings about each of the 43 countries included in this project.
Working with local researchers and partners, the research team will identify and assess media candidates and conduct interviews in local languages.
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]]>A number of initiatives popped up to help media professionals take care of their mental wellbeing. One of them is The Self-Investigation Academy, a platform co-created by Mar Cabra, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist known for her work on the Panama Papers.
The team has so far trained more than 750 reporters and editors around the world, in English and Spanish, using evidence-based practices coming from the fields of neuroscience, psychology and mindfulness. These techniques help journalists manage their workload without sacrificing their mental health.
"The Self-Investigation Academy is the natural response to these past two years of training. Course after course, iteration after iteration, we now have a method that we know works," says Cabra.
A new self-paced course "How to be a healthy journalist in an always-on culture" allows participants from all over the world to access the training. The ultimate goal is to create a less toxic working culture in the media.
Journalism.co.uk readers can win a place on the course worth £100 (€118). Fill out this quick form (or scan the QR code) for a chance to enter the prize draw. The competition closes on Sunday 20 March at 11 pm GMT and the winner will be notified via email on Monday 21 March.
During the course, participants spend 15-20 minutes a day learning more about how to manage stress better, deal with the digital world in a healthier way, be more effective at work and understand their emotions, among other topics. To help transform these practices into a healthy approach to work, the course is designed to be taken over four weeks, the minimum time it takes to get unstuck from unhealthy habits.
Continuous support is available from the team and the community, as well as through live sessions with the trainers while taking the course at your own pace. Another feature is the option to take part in 20-day challenges since it is often easier to stay committed when taking the course with others for a limited period of time.
The first challenge starts today, 14 March, and you can still sign up - it is never too late to join. There is also a course coming out in Spanish before the summer.
"At The Self-Investigation we have a mantra: you are as important as your work. We, journalists, tend to fail to remember that we're not just professionals, we're human beings. I know from experience: I burnt out because I took my job more seriously than my physical and mental health,” says Cabra.
"Journalism can't keep losing talent, we can't afford it in the complex times we live in. We recently did a free webinar and we came up with 10 tips to help journalists make well-being their priority in 2022."
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