Category: Research
Lance Oppenheim on heightened observational filmmaking and treating sources like performers
Twenty-four year-old filmmaker, Lance Oppenheim, stuck out like a sore thumb when he moved into America’s largest retirement community. He made his home amongst the retro decor, meticulously groomed golf […]
Using animation to transform the oral history of America
Humans have been telling stories since as far back as we can be traced. Storytelling has evolved from writings on cave walls to troubadours to modern day multimedia platforms that […]
We’re back! Reinventing Local TV News Project results published through RTDNA
Hello again, from the Reinventing Local TV News Project at Northeastern! It’s been four years since we started researching the future of local television news. It’s been quite a journey […]
Analyzing the top links, domains, and keywords from 29 million tweets about Covid-19
Today, in collaboration with Lazer Lab at Northeastern University’s Network Science Institute, I published an interactive dashboard exploring the prevalence of Covid-19 news and misinformation on Twitter. The analysis is […]
Pandemic news coverage is falling, but cases keep rising
The Covid-19 pandemic has yielded unprecedented media coverage. Over the last six months, no single topic has taken over online news quite like the coronavirus has. In fact, at its […]
Northeastern teams up with two leading local TV news organizations and Stanton Foundation for video news research project
BOSTON, MA – Monday, July 1, 2019 – Media researchers at Northeastern University School of Journalism in Boston, Mass., will partner with two leading local news stations, WLS-TV/Chicago and WCVB-TV/Boston, […]
“Storytelling with R – featuring several digressions”
For Mara Averick, the words “R,” “tidyverse” and “ggplot” are all part of her regular vocabulary. For people with less knowledge about data science or the language R, those words […]
Pete Buttigieg talks millennials and a call to action
Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana who is exploring a run for president in 2020, spoke about important policies that might resonate with millennials during a discussion at […]
Illuminating the road to 2020 through media coverage, candidate tweets and Google searches
Aleszu Bajak Storybench’s editor is Aleszu Bajak, a science journalist and former Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. He is an alum of Science Friday, the founder of LatinAmericanScience.org, and […]
Nate Silver talks elections and ways to improve polling data for 2020
Nate Silver, founder of the data-driven news site FiveThirtyEight, spoke about the importance of data during a talk at Northeastern University last week which formed part of a campus series […]
Women on the 2020 campaign trail are being treated more negatively by the media
Update, April 24, 2019: This project is ongoing, and we are adding more data to the original analysis as we go. See new analysis of the full text of 1,397 […]
“Universities tarnish their admissions process because they use it to raise money”
It’s the latest college admission scandal: How the wealthy use bribes and connections and get their children into elite universities. But years before the current scandal, Dan Golden was writing […]
“You want to do stories that drive a conversation”
Adrian Walker, a metro columnist at the Boston Globe for the past 20 years, writes about Boston City Hall, the Statehouse, and local and state politics. He also contributed to […]
How political reporters from Politico, Bloomberg, NBC and CBS are covering the Trump Administration
President Donald Trump hates the media. Or, at least, that’s how it appears. How else could you justify his insistent attacks on the fourth estate, calling it “fake news” and […]
“What can artificial intelligence teach us about fairness?”
Artificial intelligence is becoming a central part of people’s lives, even if they don’t realize it. So many everyday functions have an artificial intelligence component – from auto-correct on text […]
Sexism through sentiment analysis: Looking at the media’s coverage of 2020 candidates
The 2020 election cycle has firmly begun. With Bernie Sanders throwing his hat into the ring last week, the Democrats now find themselves with a large (and likely still growing) […]
Ten tips for freelance writing
What is the key to being a successful freelancer? According to Aleszu Bajak, who has freelanced dozens of stories to major publications, the key is getting over rejection. “Get used […]
What do freelance writers make?
Freelance journalism can be tough work. Stories that otherwise take a week or two to create, edit and upload to your blog may take twice or three times as long […]
Horserace or issues? Tracking the media’s coverage of the 2020 election
It is quickly becoming impossible to ignore the 2020 presidential buzz. President Trump, of course, will likely be the Republican nominee barring some unlikely development. But on the Democratic side […]
“How can newspapers create value in this new digital environment?”
The internet has permanently changed the way society consumes information and advertising. It’s also confusing and overstimulating, so journalists like Dan Kennedy, a professor at the Northeastern University’s School of […]
“Every piece of paper has valuable information”
Never throw away anything and always be aware that small tips can lead to big stories. That is the advice of award-winning Bloomberg reporter Michael McDonald, who has written a […]
“The human voice is powerful and intimate”
Elana Gordon, a radio reporter and a producer at WHYY in Philadelphia and current Knight Science Journalism Fellow at M.I.T., told students at Northeastern University that while she did not […]
How we built an immersive underground history of our university
Over the last four months, I worked with several classmates in our journalism course “Digital Storytelling and Social Media” to design a multi-platform narrative of Northeastern University’s history of development […]
Journalists improve coverage of memes with careful reporting
It was the moment memes are made of. “Who is this 4chan person or website?” CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin made the fatal mistake of not knowing what 4chan is. Her guest, […]
“What should fake news be called?”
Briony Swire-Thompson, a postdoctoral researcher at Northeastern University’s Network Science Institute, recently spoke to students and faculty about “fake news” and why people still believe it after it has been […]
Remixing hard news in local TV: A possible recipe for growth
Hello again from Northeastern University’s Reinventing Local TV News Project. Our research is in the home stretch. We just received our data after surveying 600 viewers in six television markets […]
Local TV news’ challenge of attracting the next generation of viewers
Bill Fine remembers driving past a billboard in Baltimore about 20 years ago that resonated with him. On it, one of the local television news stations in the market had […]
“Immigration has never stopped in the U.S.”
How do you edit a bilingual newspaper? What types of stories and issues does a newsroom like that cover? Who is your audience? Ling-Mei Wong, the editor of Sampan, the […]
Carlos Scheidegger on why data science needs to be done humanely
The bias inherent in machine learning algorithms and other computer systems is an issue that concerns many industries, including journalism. For example, reporters such as Julia Angwin – formerly with ProPublica […]
“The Immigration Experience” humanizes the history of immigration law. Here’s how.
After the Great Famine, you leave Ireland for America. When anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant sentiment peaks in Boston, do you stay or move to Lowell? Or maybe your parents bring you from […]