How do you coordinate feeds from the field into a coherent, engaging breaking news blog? That was the issue under consideration in
yesterday's post featuring the experience and insights of
Roanoke Times reporter Mike Gangloff. It was his job to coordinate and seek news and information from the reporters in the field.
Today, we hear from one of those reporters, Greg Esposito, via an email Q&A.
1. What lessons did you learn about this kind of writing, from length to speed to variety?
One difference between
the Morva incident -- [when in August a convict escaped from a local prison and allegedly killed a police officer and a security guard before being captured near the Virginia Tech campus] -- and this one was who initiated contact. Throughout the day in August, Mike was calling around to all of the reporters in the field pretty constantly, asking me for quotes and information as I moved around campus.
This time, I had been "trained" to call editors as I spoke to people. This made it easier because I was prepared to talk to editors rather than being caught off guard. Unfortunately, cell phone service was so bogged down in the area that I wasn't able to make as many calls as I would have liked.
If I learned in August to be the person initiating the contact, I think the lesson I took away from this experience is to focus more on following up on questions to get as complete a picture as possible from individuals. For a while I was moving from person to person pretty quickly, trying to find someone who could give me new information or a compelling account of the shooting. Looking back, I realize that even the people who just heard the shots had stories that deserved maybe a five-minute conversation instead of a two-minute conversation. While many didn't make it into the print version, at 10 a.m. they were all we had.
2. What do you think of the form? What are the challenges? How does it effect your workday?
I think the format is a great idea, very helpful for readers. As a reporter, the stopping and starting can throw you off track sometimes. I remember writing the second day Morva story and Mike pestering me for details every hour or so as I was learning new things about Morva and his escape. It kind of bugged me at the time, but when it came time to "write" the story at the end of the day it helped that much of it was already written.
3. If someone asked you how to do this, what advice would you give?
A lot of it is common sense and remarkably simple, at least on my end. It's important to get as many details about the person or the scene as possible so you can relay it in a complete coherent way -- but that's just good reporting. I also think it's important to have one person receiving the updates and directing traffic to keep everyone informed, eliminate holes and keep things as efficient as possible.
Great tip, Lex. Thanks, Chip
