The Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) has announced the launch of the RJI Innovation Hub, an interactive website where RJI’s toolkits, guides and other resources for journalists and newsrooms are available in one place.

These free resources — such as Agenda Watch, a tool that gathers information from public government meetings, or a guide to sparking civic engagement with community-centered journalism — are now even more accessible through the Innovation Hub, which is designed to make a wealth of information easily digestible and navigable.

“Developing solutions to the industry’s challenges is only part of the equation; those solutions have to be easy to find and easy to use,” said Randy Picht, executive director of RJI. “The Innovation Hub is the next step in our efforts to give local newsrooms all over the country the tools to reach, engage and inform their communities.”

The Hub was designed by William Lager, a senior editor and project manager on RJI’s Innovation Team, to present RJI’s content in engaging and bespoke ways. The aforementioned community engagement guide, created in collaboration with hyperlocal news outlet The Green Line, takes readers on a visual journey through a new editorial practice that encourages civic engagement, while a project with CISLM explores better hiring practices as a playbook, organized to allow both hiring managers and job applicants to find the information that is relevant to them.

“This was born out of the idea that the content can be more interactive than ‘read this and follow the directions,’” Lager said. “It can be interesting and readable enough that reporters can take it on the go with them.”

Press Release | Franklin News Foundation Franklin News Foundation (FNF), a leading nonprofit, non-partisan news media organization headquartered in Chicago, is thrilled to announce its recent acquisition of Advanced Digital Media (ADM), operators of BlueRoomStream.com, often referred to as the “C-SPAN of Illinois.”

The acquisition further strengthens FNF’s commitment to delivering reliable news coverage and expands its media offerings.

Under the direction of Tony and Lisa Yuscius, ADM has built a 20-year reputation for providing dependable, unbiased and unedited streaming coverage to its customers in Illinois and the television industry at large. By joining forces with ADM, FNF assumes the responsibility of fostering the future growth and development of this trusted platform. The Yusciuses will remain in their current roles with the company.

“We are excited to have the opportunity to grow again and to take on the responsibility for the future of Advanced Digital Media and Blue Room Stream,” Chris Krug, president of Franklin News Foundation, said. “We are excited for Tony and Lisa to join us. ADM consistently delivers reliable, unbiased and unedited streaming coverage to its customers here in Illinois as well as nationally to the television industry. ADM is a terrific match for our organization.

“Franklin has established a national reputation for providing the highest-quality straight news and information from state capitols, across the states and through our reporting from Washington, D.C. Our team of journalists and digital producers will continue to maintain the quality of the products ADM creates, serve our customers and innovate new and expanded offerings in the future that will bring value to our customers and the marketplace as a whole.”

FNF’s acquisition of ADM aligns with its overarching mission to offer broad access to news and information across multiple media platforms. Adding ADM to the Franklin portfolio affords the organization the ability to distribute highvalue video content to newspapers, radio and television ensuring as many Illinois taxpayers as possible have firsthand access to their state legislative body.

News sites have seen traffic plummet in recent months due to a lack of referral clicks from Facebook, whose pivot away from hard news has taken a toll on media organizations.

Media executives told CNN that their firms have seen traffic dip by as much as 40% year-over-year due to the shift made by Facebook parent company Meta.

“Facebook nuked everyone’s traffic,” one news publisher told CNN. Another media executive told CNN: “If you’re a major publisher, you’ve gotten nicked.”

The Post has sought comment from Meta.

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