When I first started studying journalism, I found the whole journalistic process very stressful. From meeting with strangers for interviews to having to listen back to our 20-minute conversations to try and piece together a story, I felt completely overwhelmed. Still, life is much easier for journalists today than it was even 20 years ago thanks to so many technological innovations. Here are just 4 apps that will simplify the steps of the journalistic process so that you can just focus on being a great reporter.
- Otter.ai (free)
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Otter is a must-have recording and transcription app for all your interview needs. As soon as I complete an interview, I upload it to Otter to start transcribing it. Of course, it isn’t entirely perfect, but the transcription is surprisingly accurate, even when I upload a crappy iPhone recording taken in a noisy café. It’s even able to distinguish between voicing, neatly breaking up the conversation into a question and answer format. Otter.ai is not only great for interviews, either – use it to record a lecture, and after transcription, your study notes will already be written down for you.
- Pocket (free)
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Are you the type of person who’s always coming across interesting articles while scrolling through Twitter, but you keep saying, “I don’t have time to read this now – I’ll read it later”? Pocket lets you save all those articles in one convenient space. Just throw the link to the article into the app and you’re ready to go. Best of all, the app has an inviting interface that has customizable fonts and background colors so you can tailor it to your reading aesthetic. If you’re looking to rest your eyes, the app also allows you to listen to an article, either by importing the audio from the original publisher or by using text-to-speech technology to create the audio itself.
- Google Voice (free)
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Described by the company as “a smarter phone number,” Google Voice is essentially a phone app that lets you record phone calls and can give you a completely new phone number. It’s great for journalists who want to keep their personal and work phone calls separate, and it’s perfect for conducting interviews over the phone. It’ll even save and transcribe the audio of your phone call, making the interview process that much easier.
- Lingofy ($69.99/year)
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Every writer has a love-hate relationship with the actual writing process, and that process becomes even more complicated when you have to go back and check to make sure you follow all the AP Style rules. Lingofy is a Chrome extension that will check your writing for you that will ensure you’re in compliance with those rules while also checking for the typical spelling and grammar mistakes.
Whether you’re an aspiring writer or a working journalist, these apps will save you time and stress so you can focus on doing what you do best: writing!
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