KAITLIN REYNOLDS
student journalist
WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA
We live in a time where the internet connects us, and the need for digital journalism has increased even more since March of 2020 and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through both the Catalyst Online and our publications' social media accounts I have been able to reach our audience even though it is not through physical print means.
publishing digital stories
Our print paper only has a select amount of room for stories on each page, however on our online newspaper website we have more room to publish content and we can share stories with our audience sooner. Here is the process that I go through with each story in order to reach readers virtually.
1
Uploading content
Once a story is written and has gone through the entire editing process I am able to add it to our digital publication's website. Here is where I can add in the headlines, featured image, reporter's name and make any last minute changes to the package before submitting it.
Updating social media
2
After a story is published on our digital website, a tweet is sent to notify our followers about the new content. I often retweet these using my personal twitter so that students who don't closely follow our publication can stay informed on new stories.
3
Published Stories
All stories that I publish are added to my staff profile. When readers view one of my stories they can easily access the other work I have done by clicking on my name. Select the image to the left to view my profile.
Multimedia tools
Covering stories goes past just writing and broadcasting. Throughout my high school journalism career I have used a variety of tools and resources to effectively share digital stories.
Covering stories
across multiple platforms
Below is the same story that I covered for both the Catalyst Newspaper and the MWHS Wildcat News. I have found it to be important to cover stories on different platforms because each publication has different readers/viewers. Click the images below to read/watch the stories.
infographics
Below is an infographic that I created to go along with a longer opinion story over student press protection laws that I wrote for the Catalyst Online. This was an important addition to the story because it summarizes the information and notifies the reader of how they can help the New Voices movement with just a few sentences and visuals. If readers don't read the entire story they can still get the main points through the eye catching infographic. Click the infographic below to see the story that paired with it.
Hyperlinking information
With every opinion story that I write I make sure to hyperlink sources and information. This is especially important because it helps to back up my claims with factual reasoning. For the story below about the discrimination against gay men when it comes to blood donations, I discussed the FDA's current policies which I then hyperlinked to the story. Click on the image to the left to read the story and the image to the right to view the FDA's policy.
Incorporating photos
For every story I include a featured image at the top of the page but for some stories that does not suffice. In the story that I wrote over the State Thespian Festival I incorporated additional images of different events that happened during the festival throughout the story. This helped to visually tell the story and give the reader more context of the events. Click the image below to read the story and see how I implemented the images.
GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONs
To accompany an opinion story that I wrote over the need for more diverse books and literary texts in schools I created a graphic illustration. The image has strong visual components which help to emphasize my main points. Click the graphic illustration below to see how it went with the story.
MWHS.Prowler INSTAGRAM
At the beginning of the 2020-21 school year I created an Instagram account for the Prowler Yearbook. It has served as a way for us to communicate with readers easily about deadlines and pick up information. The account has also provided a platform for us to share photography, updates and accomplishments. Since students don't typically see the work that we do until the end of the year, it has been an important way for us to share about the yearbook.
MWHS.CATALYST INSTAGRAM
I am on the social media team for the Catalyst Newspaper and MWHS Wildcat News Broadcast and one of the things that we have really emphasized this year is posting consistently. Currently we make a post everyday which includes story previews, events, weekly broadcasts and miscellaneous reminders. Below are a few of the Instagram posts that I have been involved with making.
