How to Use Instagram as a Reporting Tool

With more than 600 million people on Instagram, this popular photo-sharing platform has become a powerful tool for journalists around the world. My Instagram followers tagged along with me as I reported stories for PRI’s The World and the BBC from mountain villages in Nepal, truck yards in Pakistan, the multi-cultural neighborhoods of South Africa, and more.

In this course, you’ll learn the principles of using Instagram to report and photograph stories in the field. Whether you’re covering a local protest or trekking on a glacier with scientists, Instagram can help you generate interest in your story before your final report airs or goes to press.

This training will offer useful tips on how to take creative photos and film video snippets, how to edit photos within the Instagram app, ways to write effective captions, and how to create a discussion around your Instagram posts. You’ll also learn about some of the newer additions to Instagram, including live video, and how to use the platform to find interview subjects or search for story ideas.

Who should take this training:
- Multimedia journalists who are beginning to experiment with Instagram
- Print reporters, radio journalists, and anyone who covers stories in the field
- Editors who want to encourage reporters to use Instagram as a tool

About the Instructor: Multimedia Journalist Sonia Narang (@sonianarang on Instagram) covers social issues, health, the environment, and global stories for Public Radio International’s The World, News Deeply, and other outlets. Her assignments have taken her across Asia, Europe, and the U.S. She has used Instagram to file dispatches from the field as she reported on the effects of the devastating Nepal earthquake, the plight of refugees who fled to Europe, military base protests in Okinawa, Japan, and other stories. Narang’s multimedia stories have aired on the BBC, PRI's The World, NPR, Huffington Post, PBS NewsHour, Frontline/World, TIME, and The New York Times.