- Journalism reached the digital age, making journalism software the backbone of everything.
- We've created this article to feature the best software for journalists to make their job easier.
- This journalist software includes email extractors, image editors, workflow organizers, and more.
- Most of the software tools include a free version or trial, so go ahead and see if they are worth it.
Grammarly is an application that can help you improve written material in terms of spelling, grammar, punctuation, style, voice, and more.
- Fluency and tone evaluation
- Automatic spelling and grammar suggestions
- Checks formality level
- Plagiarism detection
- Word choice and synonym
In this digital age, you don’t need an exorbitantly priced program to become a top-tier journalist.
Not every person can afford such perks. But that does not mean that you should abandon multimedia journalism.
As a matter of fact, the web is crammed with affordable alternatives that fit perfectly well in a journalist’s toolkit.
Some of these tools keep the journalists up to date with every new info. And others enhance security and privacy by concealing their trails.
In this roundup, we will introduce you to the best software so can stay on top of the game as a journalist.
A journalist’s work is as complex as they get and photo editing takes a great deal of their time.
As the world’s most popular photo editing software, Adobe Photoshop is the natural choice for the job and it should not miss from any professional’s kit.
Its complex, yet easy-to-use toolset makes everyday edits like cutting, cropping, and corrections simple and accessible.
Speaking about accessibility, another important feature is its cross-platform functionality. This is just another way in which Adobe Photoshop makes itself useful.
Since journalists are always on the road (and they should if they are to catch a good story before anyone else), starting a project on the desktop and continuing it from the iPad comes in handy.
Let’s quickly go through its key features:
- Lens Blur and Improved Content-Aware Fill
- Object Selection Tool (to create fast and precise selections)
- Enhanced Transform Warp (to add control points anywhere or divide your image with a customizable grid)
- Improved Properties panel with convenient Quick Actions
- Modern presets (easier, more intuitive, and better organized)
Adobe Photoshop can be used with other Adobe products and be integrated as part of the Creative Cloud. You can try it for free for 7 days.
Adobe Photoshop
Edit pics on the go and get impressive images that weigh more than a thousand words to compliment your story!
Grammarly is probably the best-known program for writing. Its browser plugin corrects grammar mistakes and bad phrasing.
It is extremely helpful when you need to recheck a text written very quickly or when you need to edit somebody’s work. It also provides you with synonyms so you could diversify your texts.
This tool is the first on the list as a journalist needs, first of all, to write something from time to time and when this needs to be done in a short time – Grammarly is his best friend.
Other key features of Grammarly include:
- Rephrase suggestions for premium users
- Anti plagiarism tool
- Tone adjustement support
- Fluency assesment
It is not so complicated to use it – Install it on your browser, restart the browser and you will have access to the best grammar-checking program available for free.
Grammarly
Get a taste of accurate, stylistically appropriated, and plagiarism-free writing with Grammarly!
Whenever massive amounts of data are involved, it is best to present the information in an attractive way so that it is more digestible for the audience.
Since journalists deal with a lot of information, finding the right balance between text and visuals is crucial in order to captivate the public’s attention.
And there is nothing better equipped for this task than sleek, impactful, high-resolution images.
Adobe Stock brings an impressive collection of such beautiful images that every journalist should include in his or her toolset.
Let’s quickly look at its key features:
- Diverse libraries of high-resolution, stock assets and images
- Gorgeous, royalty-free imagery for high-impact storytelling
- Beautiful HD and 4K footage for motion projects
- Numerous pre-made, professionally-designed templates available
- Full compatibility with other Creative Suite products such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and more
- Royalty-free audio tracks and music
Adobe Stock is a great platform to help you get inspiring materials from world-established industry experts.
Adobe Stock
With Adobe Stock you will always find the perfect image to illustrate your article.
Digitalization has laid its stamp on journalism as well and the future of this industry may depend on cybersecurity. Truth is that there is so much information that you give out when online without knowing it.
To protect your privacy, it’s advisable to use Opera. This browser is one of the most privacy-focused tools out there that even has an in-built VPN to make sure your location, IP address, and any other data that might be used to identify you are kept hidden.
As a journalist, you will need Opera to research state propaganda and to file stories with non-state-controlled media without having to worry about the consequences of digging too deep.
Other key features of Opera include:
- Customizable themes
- Built-in adblocekr
- Comprehensive add-on shop
- Quick access to social media platforms
Opera will greatly facilitate your online research with numerous features while also keeping your identity anonymous.
Opera
Reimagine browsing and better your journalistic skills with the most powerful tool: faster, better, 100% private, and ad-free online research.
A journalist’s work is more than producing pretty pictures or performing countless hours of research.
Expert Tip: Some PC issues are hard to tackle, especially when it comes to corrupted repositories or missing Windows files. If you are having troubles fixing an error, your system may be partially broken. We recommend installing Restoro, a tool that will scan your machine and identify what the fault is.
Click here to download and start repairing.
It’s a mixture of many apparently isolated items that come together to create a unique, informative, well-documented story that captures attention.
And this calls for a tool that can centralize all those activities and allow for the different persons involved in the story-building process to collaborate in real-time and make things happen.
Monday.com does just that, it allows you to manage everything in one workspace.
Let’s quickly look at its key features:
- Planning, tracking, and delivering capabilities
- Fully customizable visuals and templates
- Seamless integration with popular collaboration tools
- Automate repetitive tasks and focus on important matters
- Visualization tools to better organize and convey information (views, maps, timeline, kanban, and more)
Monday.com is available under a subscription plan.
Being able to stay in touch with the people that matter is essential for a journalist. And sometimes, this implies a good amount of tracking down those important persons.
Used by 2,000,000+ professionals around the globe, Hunter is well-known for its excellent capacities and lets you find email addresses in seconds.
Let’s quickly look at its key features:
- Domain search to help you obtain the email addresses behind any website
- Powerful email-finding tool with efficient search filters and top scoring
- Email deliverability checker tool
- Extensive library of add-ons (Chrome extension, Firefox add-on, and CRM integrations)
What’s more, it has plenty of add-ons and countless integrations on which you can rely to complete your detective-grade research and create compelling stories.
Another software that can be a great asset in any journalist’s toolbox is EverNote. It offers solutions for quick note-taking and it also doubles as a task manager.
With a simple and friendly user interface, Evernote lets users quickly take notes, create notebooks and task lists.
You can use it as your main note-taking tool as it is suitable both for desktop and mobile. Activate the safe sync option and start right where you left off, regardless of the device.
The tool has a generous set of pre-made note templates. You can pick your favorite from categories such as creative writing, planning, travel, trackers, and more.
Evernote lets you organize your notes under different names, add tags and add them to specific notebooks.
It also has an easy-to-use search function that is able to find your notes based on titles and keywords. It uses OCR so it can also identify words within the images in your notes.
It offers quick and easy solutions to share your work with peers and offers support for popular third-party productivity apps such as Google Drive, Slack, and MS Teams.
Other key features of Evernote include:
- Supports document scanning
- Can connect to Google Calendar
- Customizable home window
Evernote has a free plan that you can use to get started and try out the app. Even though limited in certain areas such as the number of synced devices and maximum note size, it offers a good glimpse of what the product has to offer. The premium version is subscription-based.
Evernote
Create a simple workspace with this writing and task management tool.
When working in journalism, before you get started with any article, you’ll need to gain access to information, and the fastest way to contact someone is via email address.
This is easier said than done, especially when someone’s work email is hard to find, or not publicly displayed at all.
That is precisely when a tool like GetEmail.io can come in handy, since it completely scans any website and finds all the email addresses displayed on it, regardless of email domain.
Features:
- Affordable price plans
- Easy access via a web browser
- Works with all email addresses, regardless of domain
- Great for getting email addresses that aren’t publicly displayed
More so, even if the email of a particular person is not readily available, it will generate one based on the other work email addresses that are on the site.
These are some of the most powerful journalistic tools that you can use to climb the ladder of success.
So whether you are a novice en route to becoming the next CNN reporter or a fully professional journalist, you will need some of these tools to polish your work.
Do you have a favorite software for journalists that you feel deserves a place on the list? Sound off in the comments section below.
ncG1vNJzZmivmaOxsMPSq5ypp6Kpe6S7zGihqK2io66ttdKtoJxlo6SztcPAq5xo