Latakoo Launches Education Initiative To Train Next Generation Of Journalists

Latakoo, a video workflow used by broadcasters around the world, and the Department of Journalism at the University of Cincinnati are partnering to train journalism students on the industry standard video workflow media companies use to produce news.

The collaboration will equip journalism students with Latakoo’s platform for transferring, collaborating, transcribing, transcoding, managing, delivering and sharing video content. Going beyond writing and editing, Latakoo said “the partnership represents a significant leap forward in enhancing the educational experience for aspiring journalists, giving them a technology forward solution and preparing them for jobs in modern media. Latakoo is used by some of the largest media companies in the world, many of which seek a working knowledge of the system from job applicants.”

Professor Brian Calfano, who heads the Department of Journalism at the University of Cincinnati, has used Latakoo for over a decade at two different media companies. Calfano views the platform as a collection of services built together to speed up news production where every minute always counts.

Calfano said: “You’ve got X number of minutes. Are you really going to want to upload and download content and then put it into some kind of software to clip and change things around and then end up losing out being the first to get something on air because you had to go through this clunky process? Or do you want to have something that’s a one stop shop that’s fast and reliable and gives you the flexibility to be able to draw from the expertise of folks all around your company? That is, in a nutshell, what Latakoo is doing. And it’s only getting better.”

The Latakoo team and Calfano will also work together to produce a series of training modules for students on topics as varied as covering important news beats to using the technology. The company said: “The partnership underscores Latakoo’s commitment to supporting the next generation of journalists and empowering them with industry-leading technology.”

Latakoo President and Co-Founder Jade Kurian said: “Brian Calfano and the University of Cincinnati’s Journalism Department want students to have more than an education in journalism. The goal is to make sure students are also equipped to take a job in journalism. We know that video content is a cornerstone of journalism and our platform gives creators anywhere the ability to quickly share and work with their content. Using Latakoo will provide students with the tools they need to excel in their future careers. We believe this partnership is just the beginning, and we hope that other universities will follow suit in using Latakoo to empower their journalism students.”

Both Kurian and Latakoo’s other co-founder, Paul Adrian, are former journalists.

Adrian said: “Latakoo is dedicated to creating tools to sustain and support objective, fact-based journalism because journalism is critical to functioning democracies. This is exactly the type of collaboration we want to support because the need for well-trained journalists has never been greater.”