The light of day shows tragic scene.8 dead. 6 kids under 8 t.co/gQkZhvxW
— Jeff Jenkins (@JeffJenkinsMN) March 24, 2012
A fatal fire that eventually killed nine people showed how the Charleston Daily Mail is making progress as a Digital First newsroom.
The Mail has an unusual situation that presents challenges that other newsrooms don’t face. It is part of a joint-operating agreement with the Charleston Gazette, and the Gazette publishes the weekend print editions Saturday and Sunday. So, where many print-oriented newsrooms spend a lot of Friday attention on the huge Sunday paper, the Mail staff is working Friday on its Monday edition. With no Sunday paper, the news staff pretty much takes Saturday off.
In a November visit to the Mail, I encouraged a stronger digital focus, especially on Fridays. In a workshop, I taught about the value of Twitter in covering breaking news, about liveblogging and about using Storify to curate social media content.
Editor and Publisher Nanya Friend and Managing Editor Brad McElhinny began leading a digital transition in their newsroom. They invited me back for another workshop in February on the Digital First workflow.
Saturday’s tragic fire was a huge community story that demanded immediate attention. The Monday paper was too distant, arriving in homes about 48 hours after the fire. The staff needed to report immediately using digital tools and platforms. In a post to the Digital First breaking news group on Facebook, Brad tells how the staff responded (embellished with my embeds and parenthetical notes):
Obviously this was a huge story but we were ill-equipped to cover it. We’re in a two newspaper town but we don’t put out the Sunday paper so we don’t staff on Saturdays. Thank goodness for the digital skills we’ve picked up the past few months. I started by curating (the first tweet from @CharleyWest came at 7:41 a.m.) — gathering tidbits from TV and radio reports and providing links on our website. A really solid radio reporter was tweeting from the scene and so I included some of his reporting and linked to his Twitter account.
Giving credit where credit’s due — @JeffJenkinsMN is doing a great job tweeting from fatal Charleston fire.
— Brad McElhinny (@BradMcElhinny) March 24, 2012
. @diversenWOWK also providing great updates from scene of fire tragedy.
— Brad McElhinny (@BradMcElhinny) March 24, 2012
Within the hour, a local hobbyist photographer voluntarily emailed us a photo. Into the mix it went. Shortly after that, two photographers from our staff went to the scene. We loaded their photos as soon as we go them. I started a Storify of community reaction and coverage and we set up a CoverItLive to capture tweets from an afternoon press conference, which by then included one of our own reporters.
Mayor: no reason to suspect arson inCharleston house fire
— Dave Boucher (@Dave_Boucher1) March 24, 2012
Mayor Jones: fire, ems personnel responded within four minutes of call about fatal Charleston fire, but house was already engulfed
— Dave Boucher (@Dave_Boucher1) March 24, 2012
@Charleywest City officials provide update on investigation of today’s fatal fire in Charleston: t.co/JmpvDgEr
— Dave Boucher (@Dave_Boucher1) March 24, 2012
One of our photographers blended a video from the press conference, the scene of the fire and fire video obtained from a neighbor (the video is embedded below). Later that evening, our reporter covered a candlelight vigil with a story and video.
A lot of this stuff we would not have done six months ago. My only regret is that we lacked the experience and confidence to livestream the press conference about the fire.
Brad notes that a seventh child died later, pushing the total death toll from the fire to nine. This tweet shows that the community noticed the digital coverage:
Deeply heartbroken for the families effected by the house fire. Thank you @JeffJenkinsMN and @charleywest for continuing to post updates
— LaurelMK (@LaurelMK) March 24, 2012
Kudos to Brad, Nanya and the Daily Mail staff for their Digital First progress. This tragic story demanded strong coverage and they delivered.
More stories about Digital First journalists at work (keep ’em coming, colleagues):
What does an engagement editor do? Digital First editors answer
Michigan tornado coverage shows off Heritage journalists’ digital skills
Oakland Press collects community photos of children with a statue
Troy Record’s breaking news coverage drives Facebook discussion
An engaged reporter: no longer ‘just a fly on the wall’
Pottstown Mercury engages bloggers in community food drive
Facebook engagement tips: Use breaking news photos and calls to action
Jeff Edelstein uses Klout to reach people interested in his content
Valentine’s Day: a perfect opportunity for community engagement
Community internships: Oakland Press helps bloggers develop skills
Google+ Hangout helps with video interviews
Banjo app helped Andy Stettler find local tweets
Lisa Fernandez shares a crowdsourcing (or fetching) lesson
Buffy Andrews’ tips for daily beat checks using HootSuite
Larry Altman’s account of live-tweeting a breaking news story
Examples of live-tweeting government meetings
A first try at live-tweeting from the courtroom
Romeo and Juliet on Facebook: great fun and community engagement
San Pedro landslide shows power of social media
Reach out through Facebook to gather information on tragic stories
Engagement opportunities: weather, elections, sports, school fun
Denver Post social media use delivers on mountain lion vs. kitty story
Opening our Journal Register newsrooms to the community
Include staff members’ usernames in tweets promoting your content
Crowdsourcing Hurricane Irene recovery map in Connecticut
JRC journalists use social media to cover earthquake and hurricane
Trentonian uses Google+ and other tools to cover apartment shooting
Thanks Steve! We really do appreciate the time and attention you’ve paid to us — and appreciate your blog as a resource.
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