In an ever-changing world, time is the most crucial resource for journalists – and saving time on the more mundane tasks means more space for good practices like making your reporting more constructive.

The growing digitalisation and the rise of AI offer an unprecedented opportunity to simplify and accelerate your workflow on a daily basis. Here’s a list of 10 tools that will help you work more efficiently this year.

Speech to text

1. Good Tape

Launched by Danish Zetland, Good Tape was developed for journalists, by journalists. This secure transcription service allows you to transcribe interview tapes automatically: After you upload the audio file, AI automatically transcribes it into text, regardless of sound quality or language and sends it to your email.

Pros:

Free of charge
Works in many different languages

Good to know:

The service is based in Europe
If your tape contains highly sensitive information, Good Tape still recommends transcribing manually.

2. Targum

Targum translates social media videos using AI. When you share the link to any video or upload one from your desktop, the service detects the language, transcribes what’s being said, before translating it. The translated video is hosted on the platform and can be shared on social media.

Pros:

Free of charge
Works in up to 99 languages

Good to know:

The service is still in its beta version
It’s based in the US

Podcasting

3. MethodKit for podcasts

Journalism is a craftwork that requires a long thinking process which can be more efficient if visualised. Launched by DW Akademie and MethodKit, this toolkit helps you develop and produce podcasts step by step. The 61 cards cover all the aspects of podcast production and can be used as part of a brainstorming session or to mindmap the development process, both individually or within a team.

Pros:

The digital version is free
It is available in 13 languages

Good to know:

You need to figure out how to best use the kit first

4. Deciphr

Deciphr is an AI-based tool that allows you to timestamp and summarise a podcast transcript in less than 60 seconds: you upload a file (transcript or audio), the service analyses it, and presents you with timestamps and show notes.

Pros:

It’s free of charge

Cons:

So far, you cannot use the service in languages other than English

Good to know:

The service is based in Australia

Writing/editing

5. CheckforAI

CheckforAI was launched as a reaction to Chat GPT and allows you to check if a text has been generated by AI. The analysis relies on the combination of Open AI’s existing Roberta-base model for GPT detection and CheckforAI’s proprietary models.

Pros:

It’s free of charge
The Roberta-base model offers a 95% accuracy, according to the service

Good to know:

The service is based in the US

6. Corrector

Corrector is a proofreading service that checks spelling, grammar and punctuation in texts and even suggests a different wording. The interface reminds of other services like Google Translate or DeepL: You can type or paste a text, pick the language, and then click “Correct”.

Pros:

It’s free of charge
You don’t need to create an account
Available in 27 languages

Good to know:

The service is based in the UK

Research

7. Google Trends

This website belongs to Google’s Journalist Studio, where you can find various resources to work more efficiently. Google Trends allows you to find out what people are looking for on the internet based on different factors such as country, topic, or year. This way, you can be more focused on your target audience’s needs when looking for new articles ideas.

Pros:

The website is very intuitive
The search research can be very precise
You can find data about the whole world

Good to know:

This website is part of the Google News Initiative

8. Wayback Machine

Developed by the NGO Internet Archive, this website allows you to explore the internet’s archive, including the pages that are no longer publicly available, providing a useful tool for research and for journalistic investigations.

Pros:

Free of charge
Easy to use

Good to know:

The project is non-profit driven

Working with data

9. Omni Calculator

Launched in 2014, this start-up has developed calculators that can help you solve or fact-check most maths problems you may encounter in your work as a journalist or in your daily life, from percentage to confidence interval. The team has even written “Making it count”, a journalist’s guide to numbers.

Pros:

Free of charge
Easy to use

Good to know:

The start-up is based in Poland

10. Timeline JS

Launched by the Knight Lab at Northwestern University in the US, this website allows you to create timelines using spreadsheets. After having filled the provided template, you publish it to the web. Using the URL, you can then generate a personalised timeline.

While this website might require a bit of training to get acquainted with, mastering it could enrich your multimedia stories.

Pros:

Open-source
Free of charge
You can adapt the settings (language, fonts, etc)

Bonus

If you’re tech-savvy or just eager to know more – here are some additional links to relevant resources where you can follow the latest trends at the crossroads between journalism and tech.

JournalismAI Starter Pack: To learn about AI and its uses within journalism
Future Tools: To discover trendings apps/softwares in different categories
All Things AI: To stay up to date on the latest AI tools, resources and services

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