(Austin, Texas) October 4, 2023 – latakoo, the go-to video workflow for broadcasters around the world, and the prestigious 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, the state-of-the-art platform for transferring, collaborating, transcribing, transcoding, managing, delivering, and sharing video content. Going beyond writing and editing, 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.
“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?” asked Calfano. “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 Professor 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 partnership underscores latakoo’s commitment to supporting the next generation of journalists and empowering them with industry-leading technology.
“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,” said latakoo President and Co-Founder Jade Kurian. “We know that video 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.
“latakoo is dedicated to creating tools to sustain and support objective, fact-based journalism because journalism is critical to functioning democracies,” said Adrian. “This is exactly the type of collaboration we want to support because the need for well-trained journalists has never been greater.”
With this successful launch, both organizations are optimistic about latakoo’s adoption by other universities seeking to equip students with the tools and knowledge needed to excel in the ever-evolving media landscape.
Media inquiries:
Adrian Lambert
SVP Marketing
About latakoo
latakoo is a mission-critical cloud-based video workflow used collaboratively by the world’s largest broadcasters. The platform is the fastest, easiest and most secure way to transfer high-quality video files from anywhere to anywhere, regardless of file size or connectivity. Based in Austin, Texas, the company was founded in 2010 by award-winning journalists, Paul Adrian and Jade Kurian. latakoo enables professional broadcasters and production companies to automate delivery of video content to different asset managers and digital platforms and ingest or playout servers seamlessly. latakoo’s clients are some of the world’s largest media organizations.
About the University of Cincinnati
Founded in 1819, the University of Cincinnati is an R1 (Carnegie Foundation research designation) public university with 50,000 students engaging in a variety of path-breaking initiatives in support of the institution’s “Next Lives Here” strategic direction. The Department of Journalism epitomizes the university’s entrepreneurial ethos. Its students and alumni work across all journalistic platforms in local, national, and international media organizations. The department is also home to the Journomentary project, which advances knowledge about journalism history through documentary content. In 2024, the Department of Journalism will launch several local news initiatives aimed at fostering television news training for underrepresented groups.
