Automation in Journalism: A Case Study of the Bloomfield Information Project

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The rise of 'news deserts'—communities no longer covered by local newspapers—has become a significant issue in the United States. Simon Galperin, a seasoned journalist, identified this problem in Bloomfield, N.J., and initiated the Bloomfield Information Project to address it. The project aimed to collect and share news and information across the community. However, the challenge lay in manually curating information into a newsletter. Bloomfield residents expressed that news and information in town were fragmented, with no single reliable source. Simon needed to aggregate these pieces and disseminate them to the public, a task that was equivalent to a full-time job. The Bloomfield Information Project aggregated news through RSS, websites, online search, and CrowdTangle, a social monitoring tool. While verifying sources and information required a human touch, Simon needed a solution to help with the more tedious aspects of the process.

Simon Galperin is a seasoned journalist who has dedicated his career to making news more accessible to the public. Recognizing the rise of 'news deserts' in the United States, he initiated the Bloomfield Information Project in Bloomfield, N.J., to fill this gap. The project aimed to collect and share news and information across the community. Simon is also the founder of the Community Info Coop, a broader initiative that envisions news as a public utility. He believes that quality news and information is a human right and should be treated as a public good, and is working on developing policy and practice to make this vision a reality.

Simon turned to automation to streamline the news aggregation and dissemination process. He used Mailparser.io to parse press releases sent by the municipality and county, and Zapier to prepare them as posts on the project's WordPress site. Google Sheets and Digest by Zapier also played a significant role in Simon's newsgathering. Once information was curated into Google Sheets, where he wrote headline summaries and links, a Zap added those entries to Digest—a tool that allows Zapier users to aggregate anything into summaries. When ready to publish his email newsletter, Simon used Zapier's Chrome extension to release those digests, draft an email, and send him a copy in Gmail to look over. Zaps also automated publication to the Bloomfield Information Project's Mailchimp newsletter, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. This automation allowed Simon to focus on program development, community engagement, and other big picture projects for the Community Info Coop.

• The use of automation in the Bloomfield Information Project has not only streamlined the news aggregation and dissemination process but also enhanced the project's reach and impact. By automating tedious tasks, Simon has been able to focus on program development, community engagement, and other big picture projects for the Community Info Coop. This has allowed him to work towards his grander vision of treating news as a public utility. Furthermore, automation has enabled the project to consistently deliver quality news and information to the community, thereby filling a significant gap in New Jersey's news deserts. The project serves as a successful pilot, demonstrating the potential of automation in democratizing news and information.

• The Bloomfield Information Project has shared almost 2,000 news items across its site, newsletter, and social media platforms since March.

• The project has attracted 400 email subscribers to the newsletter alone.

• Automation has significantly reduced the time spent on manual publishing, allowing Simon to focus on other aspects of the project.