Field Notes: Designing for Transparency in Journalism

Journalism is facing a crisis of trust. But so much of the work that gives reporting its credibility, like how information was gathered, what a reporter observed firsthand, why certain editorial decisions were made, is invisible to readers.

Field Notes explores whether bringing readers closer to that process can build greater trust between journalists and their audiences.

The Problem

At a former newsroom I worked in, rebuilding trust was an explicit priority. Reporters were put in front of the camera to explain their own reporting. There were also dedicated features that took readers behind the scenes to explain how major stories were reported.

But that transparency was often a separate product from the journalism itself: the story was one link, and the explanation of how it was reported was another, with no guarantee that readers of the story would find the latter.

I saw an opportunity to combine the two into one product experience.

The Idea

Field Notes is an optional annotation layer that allows reporters to add context directly alongside their journalism.

Subtle highlight markers indicate where a reporter has left a note. Readers can open them for additional context, or ignore them for uninterrupted reading.

Close-up of an article with a reporter's note in the margin explaining why voters in Orange County were interviewed

A Second Layer Instead of Linking Out

The challenge was making this feature discoverable without competing with the journalism itself. It was important to me that readers experience the explanation of the reporting alongside the reporting itself.

So I designed Field Notes as a lightweight, secondary layer rather than a link out to another piece of content. Readers can easily toggle the article's notes on and off.

Article with Field Notes turned on: highlighted passages mark where a reporter has added context

Designing for Mobile

On smaller screens, annotations move into a pop up modal on the bottom of the screen.

Phone showing a reporter's note in a panel that slides up from the bottom of the article

Bringing Readers Closer

Field Notes turns transparency into part of the product experience, inviting readers into the reporting process without distracting from the story itself. Over time, that transparency can deepen trust, strengthen reader relationships and make a newsroom more valuable to its audience.