How to Save Time and Automate Your Workflow as a Journalist

Whether you’re an experienced public commentator, blogger, reporter or columnist or you’re just starting out, you’re likely to be well aware of the ceaseless demands of the deadline. No matter what hours you work or how efficiently you manage your time, there always seems to be another one a little too close for comfort. In this article, we look at the few of the ways in which you can reduce these time pressures and produce a higher volume of quality work at a quicker rate.

Use Automatic Transcription

When it comes to converting interviews, commentary and other audio-based content into a written-word article or feature, much of your time will be spent transcribing before the serious editing can start. However, it is totally possible to skip this long-winded step. There are superb transcription services available that will not only record audio as text on a page, but can do so in more than a hundred different languages. Tools of this kind can also save you the expense and complication of creating subtitles, as they will also serve as an automatic caption generator that works in seconds.

Invest in Speech to Text Options

Many journalists rely on voice recording equipment – and some still prefer to handwrite their notes. Whatever your approach, it’s more than likely that you’ll need to digitize whatever the results of your labor at some point. To save time, why not use a tool that converts the spoken work directly into editable text on an electronic device’s word processor? This is a far quicker approach than that of retyping pages of notes, and will save you from covering the same ground over and over again, allowing you to move on to the editing stages far more quickly.

Use a Workflow Management App

If a sizable chunk of your day is taken up with administration, scheduling and other menial chores that are not directly related to producing content, why not automate these processes using a workflow management app? There is a wide range of these tools available online. Many are optimized to work with any device and handle a range of different tasks, workstreams and deadlines. You can program them to send you notifications and keep you updated on the progress of different activities within your wider team – as well as plenty more.

Create a Carefully Managed Diary

This may seem obvious, but far too few people use their diaries or calendars in a manner that is sufficiently organized and intuitive. The most efficient and prolific practitioners in any field are religious diary-keepers. A clearly laid-out and organized calendar is a must. Put aside half an hour or so each week to look through your upcoming commitments, prioritize them and assign to them a suitable date and time to be completed. Depending on what you need to do, there may be tasks that you give an hour to per day for the next few weeks, while you might be able to complete others in the space of a few minutes. Whatever your schedule, regular review and careful planning will save you a great amount of time in the long run.

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