Jacob Richey: The Journalist

Jacob Richey is an ethics-minded, growth-driven digital leader with sharp fact-
checking and copy editing skills and a high attention to detail. He is skilled in text editing and usage of multimedia elements, including photos, video, audio and embedded elements, to create an impactful user experience.

Editing Samples

TIGHTENING COPY AND FINDING AN ANGLE Power outage caused Pilot Grove tornado siren to fail
Adjusting a story’s angle to respond to new information and copy editing and fact-checking.
April 3, 2025
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW

OPTIMIZING FOR DIGITAL Missouri Governor's Mansion welcomes visitors for the holidays
Identifying and removing editorialization and honing an enterprise story’s focus for digital publication.
Dec. 23, 2025
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW

IMPROVING STORY STRUCTURE With new flights out of Columbia, COU hopes to see revenue increase
Restructuring a story to highlight newsworthy developments and trimming details that distract from the focus.
Dec. 11, 2025
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW

accuracy and fact-checking
Verifying accuracy of quoted material and paraphrased content, as well as accuracy of facts.
March 25, 2024
Missouri Business Alert

responsibly reporting on trauma
Balancing the inclusion of sensitive details and weighing the importance of vivid storytelling with the risks of publishing graphic details.
May 16, 2024
Vox Magazine

COPY EDITING
Attention to Associated Press style and grammar paired with restructuring based on news judgment.
September 25, 2024
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW

Highlighted Coverage


MULTIMEDIA STORYTELLING Rescuers use remote-controlled camera to find boy lost in Columbia stormwater systemBuilt digital presentation and collaborated with a reporter and producer to write an explainer to high-interest breaking news story.
Nov. 14, 2025
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW

MULTIMEDIA STORYTELLING String of gun incidents in and near Columbia connected to gang violence
Created embedded timeline element to immerse the user, as well as custom-coded headings to elevate the story experience beyond presets included in the CMS. 
Dec. 4, 2025
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW

LIVE UPDATES Missouri governor declares state of emergency ahead of winter weather
Live blogging as an impactful winter storm approached mid-Missouri, pulling in updates from feeds across the region while maintaining SEO best practices.
Jan. 22, 2026
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW

MULTIPLATFORM COVERAGE Columbia Trader Joe's opens
Built a multi-platform coverage plan for a highly anticipated event, which resulted in high engagement and audience growth.
Oct. 30, 2025
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW

AWARD-WINNING COVERAGE Holiday lights displays illuminate nightly across Columbia and mid-Missouri
Multimedia digital content display that won second place for Best Use of Digital Media - News at the 2025 Missouri Broadcasters Association Awards.
Dec. 12, 2024
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW

Writing Samples


CRIME AND COURTSOfficials walk through investigation into Erik Spencer’s deathDetailed explainer written on a tight turnaround in collaboration with a digital content producer.
Dec. 19, 2025
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW
BREAKING NEWSColumbia dispensary fire caused by vehicle striking gas meterFollow-up on a high-interest breaking news event.
Jan. 16, 2026
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW

POLITICAL ISSUESMissouri Supreme Court upholds ban on gender-affirming care for minorsFirst in the market to break a major update to a nuanced political story with deep impacts.
Jan. 13, 2026
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW

POLITICAL ISSUESMissouri secretary of state revises ballot language for amendment to ban abortion againContinuous coverage of a highly politicized issue with a focus on simplifying the update to inform voters. Includes custom display elements created using HTML and CSS.
Sept. 26, 2025
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW

BREAKING NEWSKids safe, suspect in custody after Jefferson City homicide tied to Amber AlertFinal product of a breaking news story that started as live updates. Coordinated coverage from the newsroom as reporter sent updates from the field.
Jan. 12, 2026
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW

localizationTech installed at COU allowed plane to land itself near DenverIdentification of a local angle to a trending national story. Creation of embedded elements to contextualize the story for a local audience.
Dec. 24, 2025
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW

Data and numeracyNew US census data shows mid-Missouri is growingData reporting and visualization.
May 19, 2024
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW

Social listeningMid-Missouri politicians react to CNN Presidential DebateLive social listening and hyper-localization of a topic of national interest.
June 27, 2024
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW

Design Samples

CUSTOM INFOGRAPHICS
Combed through legislation defining new congressional districts and used GIS software to attach the data to geographic data from the Census Bureau’s shapefiles. Hosted the map publicly for use on KOMU.com.
Oct. 20, 2025
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW

HTML and CSS
A custom-coded website using responsive and accessible web design made from scratch using HTML and CSS with select embedded content.
May 2024
Mizzou Student Media

publication design
Designed an entire section of a printed newspaper using Adobe InDesign on a nightly deadline.
May and June 2024
Columbia Missourian

WEBPAGE LAYOUT
Page design for digital election results using locally made graphic elements paired with news content.
November 2025
KOMU 8 & Mid-Missouri CW