Research and Fact-Checking

• Perplexity – AI search engine that combines web results with synthesized answers. Good for quick research briefs and exploring new topics. Unlike traditional search, it gives you summary answers with source links, saving time on initial research phases.
• Elicit – Research assistant built for academic and technical sources. Tracks citations, pulls key findings from papers, and helps you build evidence-based stories. Most useful when covering science, policy, or data-heavy beats.
• NotebookLM – Google's tool that lets you upload your own sources (PDFs, documents, transcripts) and query them. Strong citation features mean you can fact-check across multiple documents quickly. Works well for investigative pieces with lots of source material.

Interview and Audio Work

• Otter.ai – Records and transcribes interviews with speaker identification and timestamps. Pulls out action items and key quotes automatically. Works across phone calls, in-person meetings, and video conferences.
• Descript – Audio and video editor that works through text transcripts. Edit by deleting words in the transcript, remove filler words automatically, and clean up audio. Useful for podcast producers and multimedia journalists.

Writing and Organization

• Mem – Notes app that auto-organizes your research and surfaces relevant information when you need it. Acts like a second brain for tracking sources, story ideas, and background research over time.
• Notion Q&A – If you already use Notion, this lets you query your entire workspace. Ask questions about past stories, find sources, or pull up related research without manual searching.

Workflow and Production

• n8n – Open-source automation platform. Build custom workflows like automatically saving emails from sources, monitoring RSS feeds for story leads, or organizing research files. Requires some technical setup but highly flexible.
• Runway – Generative video toolkit for creating b-roll, visual effects, or experimental footage. Text-to-video and image-to-video features help produce visual content quickly for online stories.

Visual Content

• Midjourney – Image generation for concept art, illustrations, and visual storytelling. Useful for opinion pieces, feature illustrations, or when you need visual concepts quickly. Strong prompt control gives you specific results.

Note: Most journalists will get the most value from the research and interview tools (Perplexity, Otter, NotebookLM). The creative tools (Runway, Midjourney) work best for specific multimedia projects or feature work.