Spatial Journalism is a concept that I have been working on for several years that examines the intersection between journalism, spatiality, location-based services and mobile technologies.

Spatial journalism can be defined as an emergent kind of journalism that incorporates space, place and/or location (physical, augmented and virtual) into the process and practice of journalism.

Stay tuned to this space for the latest developments on Spatial Journalism and drop me a line here on my site if you find some interesting resources related to the concept! I would love to hear from you!

Types of Spatial Journalism Employed Today:

Factal

The New York Times R&D – Spatial Journalism efforts

Local News Matters

The Bay Area News Group

Check out the spatial journalism newsletter – view past newsletter issues.

Latest research on Spatial Journalism:

• Schmitz Weiss, A. & Cueva Chacon, L. (2023). Spatial Journalism Practices in Latin America: Perceptions of Space, Place and Spatial Technologies. Presentation at Global Latinidades Preconference of International Communication Association Conference. (Virtual Conference). Toronto, Canada.
• Schmitz Weiss, A. & Oppegaard, B. (2022). Location Data: A Delphi Study of its Ethical Implications for the News Industry. Journalism Practice. DOI:10.1080/17512786.2022.2103725
• Schmitz Weiss, A. (2022). Local News, Local Engagement and Location: A Case Study of Two Communities. MILab Journal.
• Schmitz Weiss, A. & Oppegaard, B. (2021). An ethics of care: Journalists and their locative data perceptions, approaches in practice. International Communication Association. (Virtual format due to global pandemic) May.
• Oppegaard, B., Zeffiro, A., Hildebrand, J. M., Frith, J., Hjorth, L., McGrane, C., Schmitz Weiss, A., & Goggin, G. (2020). Locative-Media Ethics: A Call for Protocols to Guide Interactions of People, Place, and Technologies. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 97(1), 13-29. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699019898773
• Schmitz Weiss, A. (2019). Journalists and Their Perceptions of Location: Making Meaning in the Community, Journalism Studies, DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2019
• Schmitz Weiss, A. (2019). Spatial Journalism. The International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies. John Wiley & Sons Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118841570.iejs0143
• Schmitz Weiss, A. (2018). Journalism Conundrum: Perceiving Location and Geographic Space Norms and Values. Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, 13(2), 46–60. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16997/wpcc.285
• Schmitz Weiss, A. (2018). Location-Based News in Mobile News Apps: Broadcast Leads in Geolocated News Content, Newspapers Lag Behind. Newspaper Research Journal
• Schmitz Weiss, A. (2017). Spatial Journalism: Journeys into Mobile, Augmented and Virtual Journalism Storytelling for the Digital Era, Keynote Presentation at 13th International Symposium Communication in the Millennium, Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium Communication in the Millennium, pp.2-7. Pdf file, CD. May 2017.
• Digital Journalism: Place-based Knowledge in the 21st Century: The Creation of Spatial Journalism – 2015
• Presentation at 2014 ICA Conference on Spatial Journalism in the 21st Century – May 2014

Other related articles:

• Schmitz Weiss, A. (2021). Spatial Journalism will see its day in the sun. Nieman Lab Series – Predictions for Journalism 2022- December 2021
• Schmitz Weiss, A. (2018). Local News isn’t Where you Thought it Was. Nieman Lab Series – Predictions for Journalism 2019 – December 2018
• Schmitz Weiss, A. (2013). Exploring news apps and location-based services on the smartphone. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 90(3): 435-456.
• Mobile, location, data – Predictions for Journalism 2013 | Nieman Lab Series -December 2012

Videos:

• What is Spatial Journalism? Podcast with The Public Diplomat (August 2022)
• Spatial Journalism: New pathways in the journalism practice. (March 2022)
• Geolocation and the media: From challenges to opportunities and beyond (November 2021)
• From Spatial to Sensor Technology: New Pathways in Local news (October 2019)
• Spatial Journalism: The intersection of local news and location-based technologies (advance to 1:10:50 in the video track) (April 2019)
• Spatial Journalism Explained in 5 Minutes
• Spatial Journalism Presentation at SDSU Discovery Slam (September 2015) – advance to 19:14 in the video (Video no longer available)