David Rodin and Zubin Hydrie are juniors earning their degrees in the intersection of technology, business, and the arts at USC’s Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy (IYA).
Born out of the nature of their program, they are not only peers but also the co-founders of Editory, formerly known as Stringer News.
First intended to be a consumer-facing news app, Stringer News used AI to score articles for bias, allowing it to highlight news that shows both “sides” of major headlines. After struggling to monetize, they shifted toward helping journalists and newsrooms directly.
According to Rodin, he had already been developing the concept of Stringer News when he arrived at USC. He said it was also part of his video application to the university.
Beyond their applications on the Common App, prospective IYA students must submit an introduction video and two academic essays, according to the IYA website.
“Students are also encouraged to submit a supplemental portfolio to SlideRoom by their respective deadline,” the website outlines.
Rodin said IYA’s application style is exactly how he and Hydrie ended up in the same room. He said the process was specifically designed to attract hyper-niche, cross-disciplinary talent.
“The whole idea of IYA really is to get different types of thinkers into the same community … people who are talented in very specific verticals, all in the same room,” Rodin said. “Zubin was a very talented coder, and we’re in the same major. I know nothing about coding, but I know a lot about business and sales.”
Rodin realized he was interested in having Hydrie serve as his co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) soon after he arrived at USC. He said he instantly felt Hydrie was “one of the best developers in the cohort.”
Hydrie credits Rodin’s relentless optimism as a driving force behind their partnership.
“[Rodin’s] always gone in with this mentality that anything’s possible,” Hydrie said. “A lot of it comes from this unrequited self-belief, where you just push through the noise and people telling you, ‘I don’t think this will work.’”
Despite this, Hydrie said he had hesitations before accepting the position. He said he was ultimately convinced to partner with Rodin after his mother pushed him to do so. He recalls her saying that the concept for the app seemed like it would have an impact.
“I knew he was the person I wanted as my co-founder and CTO. I think I harassed Zubin probably every week for two or three months,” Rodin said.
With the market for media platforms and apps already highly saturated, the students’ goal was to hit the problem at its core: reestablishing public trust in media.
Rodin said that Stringer News was initially targeted to consumers to help them understand the news.
About 28% of Americans say they have a “great deal or a fair amount of trust in the mass media” — a number down from 68% in 1972, according to Axios.
“We started with a centralized problem. People don’t trust the media … so we looked inward to where the news is created,” Rodin said.
After learning this firsthand, the duo switched tracks and launched their next app. Editory is aimed squarely at working journalists and newsrooms, not general consumers — a deliberate shift from their earlier app.
According to Hydrie, the final push that led to this came from a chance encounter at an IYA pitch event, where an ex-New York Times designer gave them a pivotal piece of feedback.
“[The journalist said] ‘If you really want people to trust journalism, they need to trust the journalists themselves,’” Hydrie recalled.
This gave them the idea for their next approach: giving a voice to journalists outside of just written text. Editory’s platform is a video content tool built for journalists, helping newsrooms create social media content that puts a human face to everyday reporting.
“What we’re doing with video might seem like ‘oh, you’re just making videos,’ but we’re helping news consumers see the face behind the name, see who’s actually creating the content they’re reading, and build that authenticity and trust,” Rodin said.
Hydrie said he believes that seeing journalists explain their story and reasoning is more effective than just reading a block of text and having to believe it.
“We had to switch from a consumer facing app to a ... journalist facing product,” Hydrie said.
For two juniors who started with a sketchbook and a whiteboard, it’s clear for them that the best is still ahead. The two founders were both quick to keep perspective on what — and who — they say made it all possible.
“It hasn’t been a two-man show this whole time,” Rodin said. “We’ve had immense support from Zubin’s family, my family, advisors like Ken Shapiro, and other students at USC who helped us with sales and research. We owe a lot of love to USC, IYA, Annenberg, and Marshall.”
Both founders were quick to name specific faculty members across multiple USC schools outside of IYA who they said have been hands-on in supporting Editory.
Beyond connections and faculty support, both founders emphasize that their actual coursework at USC was directly applicable to their work at Editory.
“I can think of multiple classes I’ve taken ... where literally everything I’ve learned, I’m applying to the work I do with Editory. It’s all kind of encompassing,” Hydrie said.
In a media landscape where trust is at an all-time low, news creators are starting to shift priorities from stronger algorithms toward more human ones.
“I’m all in, that’s all I’ll say,” Rodin said. “I have class, I’ve got side projects going on — but for this, I’m all in.”