Media Hat: A good month to try something new

If you’re wondering which tool you should learn in 2026, you’re not alone. But you are probably asking the wrong question. New tools appear almost daily, and getting great at one of them rarely lasts very long. What helps more is feeling comfortable picking up new tools as you go. Trying things, following your curiosity, connecting dots that don’t obviously belong together. Less about mastering a single instrument, more about learning how to conduct. 

That’s the spirit behind this newsletter and this will be our motto for the editions ahead. 

If you’re one of the many people who are new here, hello to you! 
Each month, we round up tools, ideas, and behind-the-scenes insights to help journalists who wear many “hats” — reporters, editors, producers, creators, and everything in between. 

Up your sleeve  

Tools and tricks you can put to work right away 

 
Build your pitch, step by step
If you’ve ever had a solid story idea but struggled to explain why it matters on paper, this will feel familiar. Built by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) × El Colectivo 506, this chatbot (named Luz!) slows the process down and comes up with questions to make your idea more editor-ready. (It feels closer to thinking things through with a colleague than filling in a form.)
👉 Take a look 
📌 Good for: journalists, grant applicants 
 

Learn UX by actually doing it  
UX often stays abstract until you’re choosing a headline or image size five minutes before publishing. T These challenges invite you to try things media professionals increasingly bump into anyway — like sketching a homepage, testing a newsletter signup, or checking whether an investigation page actually makes sense to readers.  
👉 Try at least one 
📌 Good for: journalists, editors, newsroom product teams 

Using AI for data? Read this first  
Associate Professor Paul Bradshaw, who leads the MA in Data Journalism at Birmingham City University, put AI tools to the test on real data tasks. Running the same dataset through ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot, he shows that AI can get the numbers right but only when it generates code, and only when the question is tightly defined. Vague questions can lead to confident but wrong answers, and if you can’t read the code, it’s hard to see where things went off.  

👉 Read the full piece  
📌 Good for: data journalists, editors or generally anyone using AI chatbots 

Tracking election misinformation 
Election cycles move fast, and misinformation spreads faster. ElectionWatch, a newsroom-focused AI tool from CCIJ, is designed for investigators and fact-checkers. It’s built with real newsroom pressure in mind, not as a shiny demo. 
👉 Learn more 
📌 Good for: investigative journalists, fact-checkers, election reporters 

Behind the scenes  

Research, explainers & deeper context to help you connect the dots 

Women’s clothing sizes are wildly inconsistent and this team didn’t just explain the problem, they showed it. Starting from a personal frustration, The Straits Times collected size data across brands, built a 3D body visualiser, and even 3D-printed mini mannequins to show how the same “M” can mean very different bodies. It’s a clear example of data journalism grounded in real, everyday experience. 
👉 Explore the project

Community Spotlight  

New voices, bold experiments, and big ideas from the field 

What if your investigation became a game? 
If you’ve ever wondered how an investigation might reach people beyond the usual article format, this is an interesting experiment. Floodlight is inviting investigative outlets to submit stories that could be turned into simple, playable browser games, built with independent developers. It’s a chance to test new ways of explaining complex reporting, especially for audiences who might not read a long piece end to end. 
👉 Submit your story 

Journalism conferences worth bookmarking in 2026 
We at iMEdD gathered the main journalism conferences of 2026 into one calendar, organised by topic, rather than date. It’s there to help you plan learning, travel, or simply stay oriented in a busy year. 
👉 Explore the list 

Let’s chat!  

If something here sparks a thought, we’d love to hear it.  And if you want to pass this along to someone who might enjoy it, thank you — that’s how this little community grows.  

See you next month!