Telling the story in multiple media
February 14th, 2008 at 09:32pm Linda Grist Cunningham
At last count, we had posted 38 photos in our gallery, seven videos and dozens of news updates. That’s how we start telling stories these days: Web first. It would be easy if that’s all we did, but we have tomorrow’s newspaper as well. So as reporters, photographers and videographers are filing from the NIU campus, writers, editors and producers in the News Tower are taking that information and turning it around for posting to the Web and tomorrow’s newspaper. What used to be a simple, straight “assembly line” has morphed into a “Slinky,” where news goes on the first available “platform.” Tonight that was the Web. We’ll recraft the Web for print tomorrow, and push the print back to the Web and keep going.
Some folks think that approach is new. For those of us who have been in the business three or four decades, we know differently. We used to publish two editions a day, sometimes multiple ones, write for radio and television, and send updates to AP and UPI all day. It’s only been in the past 20 years or so that we limited ourselves to one newspaper each morning. I’m glad we can tell stories this way. We’re learning a lot.
P.S. Thanks to those who are reading online tonight. It’s nice to know you’re out there — even the unhappy ones. Godspeed and good night.
Entry Filed under: NIU campus killings, Northern Illinois University, Web first
2 Comments Add your own
1. DB | February 15th, 2008 at 11:26 am
If any of the students on campus would have been licensed to carry conceled there wouldn’t have been so many casualties.
The next “off his medication” person who thinks of shooting up our fellow Americans will think twice! This has happened too many times! When will people understand that by allowing only the criminals to have guns only makes us vunerable. If they didn’t know if the teacher/geek/prep/jock or all around good student was carring a weapon, they wouldn’t be so quick to shoot up an entire room of people in order to kill themselves. They may just do it the old fashioned way & take their own life instead of making others suffer too & going out in a blaze of glory(so to say).
2. RK | February 15th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Obviously this man was not just a criminal. He was a normal everyday student. And like many people in this country he may have been on medication, for which we still don’t know the reason. However, regardless of who he was, he was able to get guns, legally and was able to go and kill many people. If we all were able to carry concealed weapons, the odds are that there would be more deaths and shootings because someone became upset or enraged over something as trival as someone pulling out in traffic, or someone looking at another person in a threating way. Giving guns to everyone is not the answer. Guns need to be restricted.
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