Documentaries, disinformation and young reporters: Here is your weekly journalism news update

Every Friday, Journalism.co.uk brings you a round-up of our week’s top stories, giving you all the information you need to know, wherever you are.

Here is the latest journalism news from this week:

How to cope with 'overwhelming' information in your newsroom

Journalists are 'overwhelmed' by the information they process in their working day and want to explore solutions with third party providers to make it more manageable, according to a nine-month project involving discussions across the industry and a revealing in-depth survey.

Digital journalist John Crowley has been blogging this year about how journalists are wilting under the weight of emails, pushes and notifications they get each day and what we, as an industry, can do to change the narrative.

Picture News teaches schoolchildren to challenge what they see in the media

From the BBC Young Reporter to The Student View, initiatives aimed at educating children and teenagers about the news industry are on the rise.

Picture News produces resources mainly for primary schools, helping teachers spark a conversation about current affairs with pupils aged between five and 11.

Every week, the team create a poster with a strong image that illustrates the news story. They then send it to around 1,500 schools, together with other age-appropriate resources that explain what the story is about.

How your news organisation can share Instagram Stories with a select audience

Image by Pexels

The Stories format has given news organisations a new way of connecting with audiences. Some publishers use it to tease their content outside of the app, some give audiences a 'behind the scenes' look into the workings of their newsroom, and others prefer to use the space to present polished news coverage, produced for the platform.

In its latest update, Instagram has announced a twist on private sharing, enabling users of the platform to post Stories to a limited group of followers.

Empowering the next generation at BBC Young Reporter

Image: BBC

"Empowering the next generation is incredibly important," said Katie Lloyd, development director, BBC Young Reporter, BBC News & Current Affairs.

"They are the future of storytelling – let's face it, you can't teach creativity to a bot."

The BBC's Young Reporter project works in partnership with schools, colleges and youth organisations to encourage more young people to tell their stories – many of which are not represented in the daily news cycle.

A look inside the Guardian's documentary strand, two years after its relaunch

Guardian Documentaries, the publisher's strand for short-form documentary, relaunched two years ago after learning more about its audience's preferences.

The small team receives more than 1,500 pitches a year, but with only space for 20, they look for the most original, creative stories available.

CrossCheck Nigeria targets WhatsApp as a hotspot for fake news

In the run-up to the Nigerian election in February 2019, 16 Nigerian news organisations are being trained in a collaborative effort to fight mis- and disinformation spreading online, with a focus on the messaging platform WhatsApp.

The International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) spearheads the project, working with non-profit organisation First Draft. Both organisation have also set-up CrossCheck France and Comprova in Brazil for their respective elections.

What makes readers pay for online news?

Analytics company Twipe published the results of their survey on changing attitudes towards paying for online news. It found that lack of news in specific formats drives readers to pay, and also that unlimited access to digital news stories is the most appreciated benefit of subscriptions.

Book your place for our next newsrewired digital journalism conference today, taking place on 6 March 2019.

Free daily newsletter

If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).