Curation challenges and opportunities: Storify as a participatory reporting tool in a journalism school newsroom

Abstract

News curation tool Storify is a publication platform for journalism and news now used by diverse mainstream media, (including ABC News, The Times, Al Jazeera and The Washington Post), news wire services (Associated Press and Agence France-Presse), and news generators (the White House, United Nations and World Bank, to name a few) to curate and publish ‘social stories’ online. Within the journalism classroom, Storify is recognised as having value in enabling students to produce news stories based on social content while also challenging them to assess content, consider agendas and develop news consumption and storytelling skills (Mihailidis & Cohen, 2013; Thorsen, 2013; Sacco & Bossio, 2014). Its use raises issues that go to the heart of journalism ethics, including questions over repurposing of material, relationships to sources, use of non-elite or vulnerable voices, source selection and the need to check veracity. This requires educators to revisit the need for skill development in selection and verification of content. This article examines five lessons learned in the use of Storify in a journalism class newsroom as a tool to curate breaking news about the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 and how these lessons have altered teaching practice.