Erasmus Mundus Journalism 2023

DIGITALIZATION
AND JOURNALISM:
Practical approaches

Cecilia Arregui Olivera

19.09.2023 Kristoffer Dahl Sørensen
Steffen Damkjær Moestrup
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OVERVIEW FOR TODAY

1. CDJ part 2: introduction, objectives and
expectations
2. Journalistic storytelling in a digital world
3. Introduction to DMJX platform and tools (with
Annegrete)
4. After class: DMJX student card assistance
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MEET THE INSTRUCTORS

Steffen Damkjær Moestrup Kristoffer Dahl Sørensen Cecilia Arregui Olivera

sdm@dmjx.dk 1KDS@dmjx.dk ca@cc.au.dk
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MEET THE TAs

Josephine Gadegaard Rikke Holst Eriksen Mikala Emilie Kjærbo

Kristiansen Sørensen
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MEET THE TAs: VIDEO EDITING

Daniel Bernard Nils Jonathan Kidmose Kyed Caroline Glæsner

Cassagneres
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YOUR TURN

• What is your journalistic experience?

• For how long have you practiced

journalism?

• What are your experiences with video,

data visualisation, text, photo?
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PURPOSE OF THE
COURSE
“Digitalisation undermines the monopoly of
news and information traditionally maintained by
the news media. The same processes enable
journalists to reach new audiences, produce
more innovative forms of reporting and
redefine the boundaries of the profession.

This 2-part course addresses these issues and

prepares students to study the challenges and
possibilities to journalism posed by increased
digitalisation processes.”
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WHERE YOU COME

FROM…
• You have been trained in researching relevant
theoretical literature, writing a literature review,
phrasing a research question, and the basic
fundamentals of crafting a research design.

• You have been introduced to major theoretical

perspectives concerning the interrelation between
journalism and digitalisation processes:
gatekeeping, journalism and social media,
convergence and the gamification of journalism.
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”
Journalism scholars and students
“must be prepared to question
everything, even the ‘bleeding
obvious’”, as far as journalism is
concerned… critically inquiring into
issues like “what journalism is, why
it is as it is, why it matters and how
it could be different…”

- TONY HARCUP (2012)

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WHERE WE ARE
GOING…
• Practically, you will learn to work
journalistically with new media
platforms.
• You will produce journalistic pieces in
a digital setup.
• We will combine core principles of
journalism with digital approaches,
using different types of media.
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SESSIONS OVERVIEW
1. Introduction to the course + Digital 6. Data journalism and data
storytelling visualisation
2. Journalistic Models: Digital Story 7. Text, photos and the art of profiling
Model + The User Needs Model 8. Pitching + group work: assigment
3. Assignment 1: work + feedback 2
4. Introduction to video journalism 9. Working, coaching and feedback
5. Video journalism: Practical for assignment 2
elements 10. Summary, course evaluation and
introduction to exam
11. Coaching sessions and exam
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KEY DOCUMENTS AND INFORMATION

➢ Feedback or concerns? Feel free to reach out!

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EXAM

“The final grade for this course will come from a set
take-home assignment consisting of a
journalistic product and a reflection report.
Students will be given the detailed exam guidelines
at the beginning of the exam.

The official duration of the exam is 7 days (…) The

exam can be written individually or in groups of
up to 3 students.”

+ prerequisite: systematic literature review (enclose

approval as appendix)
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KEY DATES
Thursday, September 21 at 16:00 deadline
to submit assignment 1
Friday, September 22 at 16:00 submission:
systematic literature review
Thursday, October 5 at 13:00 deadline to
submit assignment 2
Monday, October 9 at 14:00 exam period
begins
Monday, October 16 at 14:00 deadline to
submit exam
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HOW TO BOOK A
STUDY ROOM

• Please go to Tove in the reception

(ground floor)
• First come, first served
• Only possible to book on the day
• Approx. only 10 group rooms available
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LET’S TAKE A BREAK.

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JOURNALISTIC
STORYTELLING IN
A DIGITAL WORLD
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El Observador, Uruguay, 2000

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A PIVOTAL MOMENT

The New York Times The Guardian

December, 2012 May, 2013
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CONVERGENCE
“Cross-platform content production”
(The Standard)

The Standard, Kenya, 2021

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BACKPACK JOURNALISM

Bill Gentile
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”
Every time we thought we unearthed some
truth about digital storytelling, a new
storyform would emerge, throwing our
models into disarray. (…)

What we do know is that the foundations

of a good news story are eternal. All
good stories are important and interesting.
They have to engage audiences. But how a
story is told can change depending on the
device from which it’s consumed.”

- RICHARD KOCI HERNÁNDEZ & JEREMY RUE (2015, p. 1)

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digital news
multimedia packages
journalism

digital
storytelling
interactive
documentaries web-docs
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”
The challenge in this type of journalism
is how these respective media forms fit
together within a single news
presentation, or even within a single
news organization. How do videos
coincide with text, graphics, and
photos in a cohesive manner?”
- HERNÁNDEZ & RUE (2015, p. 2)
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CLASSIFICATION
OF DIGITAL NEWS
PACKAGES
Hernández & Rue (2015, p. 98)
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NEWS GAME
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ANALOGUE MEDIA IN DIGITAL WEB DOCS

• (Larger) digital stories are often co-created by a larger team of
content producers such as reporter, photographer, UR expert and
graphics people (Kovacs, 2016; Hernandez & Rue, 2015)
→ A collaborative genre

• (Recent) digital stories are often characterized by an attempt to

create a distraction-free space where the user can experience a
high degree of immersion
→ “Cognitive container” (Hiippala, 2017)

• In order to mobilize the distraction-free space in a collaborative

genre a number of digital, literary techniques are used such as
loop-playing videos, single-page scroll, scenic descriptions and
the use of dialogue (Jacobson et al, 2016 og Dowling, 2019)

→ But what about personalization in a collaborative genre?

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NEITHER ONE NOR THE OTHER

digital analogue digilogue?

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EXAMPLES OF DIGILOGUE IN WEB-DOCS

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”
What is lost when we no
longer write by hand?”

https://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/
historier/haandskrift
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KIRSTEN’S BRAIN

https://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/historier/
kirstens-brain
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”
I think about all the
evil that could have
happened”

https://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/historier/
1943

SUMMING UP
• Digilogue elements are a way to create / maintain
personality, intimacy and proximity in a collaborative
genre where many individuals are involved in the production
• Digilogue elements can be used to personalize both the
sources (source subjectivity) and the reporter (byline
subjectivity)
• Digilogue elements are especially useful if they are an
integrated part of the narrative and/or matches the
theme of the piece (such as the piece about handwriting)
• Digilogue elements can be a way a journalistic media can
separate itself from competitors and bring about a specific
style
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REFERENCER:
Dowling, David O. “The Literary journalism in the digital age” in: The
Routledge Companion to American Literary Journalism. New York:
Routledge: 2019
Hernandez, Richard Koci, and Jeremy Rue. The Principles of
Multimedia Journalism: Packaging Digital News. New York:
Routledge, 2015.
Hiippala, Tuomo. “The Multimodality of Digital Longform
Journalism.” Digital Journalism 5, no. 4 (2017): 420–42. https://
doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2016.1169197.
Jacobson, et. al “The digital animation of literary journalism”.
Journalism, 17, no 4 (2016).
Kovacs, Kasia. “How to Engage Readers with Digital Longform
Journalism.” American Press Institute, December 1, 2016.
www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/strategy-
studies/engaging-long form-journalism/.
Moestrup, Steffen (2022) “Jeg bliver til i en strøm af nuller og
ettaller, som du kan klikke på”. In the anthology: “Hvad laver JEG
her” / What am I doing here?.
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WHAT DIGITAL
STORYTELLING IS NOT LIKE
• A bunch of visual elements that are
not thought as a unit/together from the
get-go

• A well-written text where the digital

and visual elements get first invented at the
end: 'a Christmas tree story' (Stinne
Andreasen, Berlingske)
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”
Each media form of journalism dictates a different approach to
storytelling. (…) A still photograph, for example, is a moment frozen
in time, contemplative and emotive. Its format not only differs from
video—which is constantly in motion—but its ability for reflection
affects people in a different manner.”
- HERNÁNDEZ & RUE (2015, p. 2).

Audiovisual Data visualization Text & photo

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LET’S TAKE A BREAK.

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GROUP DISCUSSION

• In your study groups, • What makes it successful?

think of a good example
• Note down a few points,
of digital storytelling.
we will discuss in plenum
• How would you classify it
and why?
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”
Oscar-Winning, Partly
iPhone-Shot 'Searching
for Sugar Man' Proves
Content is King.”
- ROB HARDY (2013)
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CONTENT IS KING

• Content is always king. “What we do know is that the foundations of

a good news story are eternal” (Hernández & Rue, 2015, p. 2).
• Technology, software and equipment are in constant evolution.
• Solid storytelling, how to craft a story for different formats, media
and audiences, and the use of research and academic insights as a
way to think about your practice differently, is what we can offer in
this programme.
• So, we expect you to work with what you have.
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USE OF EQUIPMENT
• We expect you to work with what you
already have. A laptop and smartphone are
more than sufficient.

• Available at DMJX: audio recorders, mojo-

kits for smartphones and a small podcast
studio, etc.

• Reach out to Hans Bromand Nørgård from

technical support at hbn@dmjx.dk
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COMING UP: TODAY

INTRODUCTION TO DMJX
PLATFORM AND TOOLS

Instructor: Annegrete Skovbjerg

Time: 13:00 – 15:00
Venue: Yellow Auditorium

+ Assistance with DMJX student card

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COMING UP:
TOMORROW

JOURNALISTIC MODELS:
THE DIGITAL STORY MODEL
+ THE USER NEEDS MODEL

Instructors: Steffen, Kristoffer

Time: 09:00 – 15:00
Venue: Yellow Auditorium