Barn fire coverage shows breaking news evolution

Credit: Christofer Machniak/Hartland Patch • Hartland Area Firefighter Jim Brake scrapes the charred ground as Fire Marshal Mike Bernardin takes pictures Saturday in the area where the animal barn once stood until a fire Friday night at Spicer Orchards Farm Market and Cider Mill, 10411 Clyde Road, in Hartland Township, Mich. The building that contains the farm market, winery and bakery stands in the background.

HARTLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Because of how the semester evolved, we didn't do a breaking news assignment as planned, but I still want to provide some insight into how this is changing the nature of journalism.

The example I'm going to use is from Hartland Patch, where on Friday night I began to report about a fire at a well-known farm and cider mill — Spicer Orchards (A photo from my follow-up story is above). What's really important to note is the first news of the fire wasn't even published by me on my site — it came from a user named Mary who broke the story in our activity stream (See below). After I saw that, I immediately checked to see if other media had anything and I found that the countywide newspaper, the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus already had a brief story and pictures. So, I engaged the audience by responding with what I knew at that point, correcting her report that it was a "large" barn and to explain that we now we're working on the story (also below).

I also linked to the Press & Argus story on Hartland Patch's Facebook page. In this new world of journalism while I still see myself competing with the paper for stories, my philosophy is to also link to their coverage whenever it's useful to my audience, especially on stories that are breaking or that I know Hartland Patch won't be doing. This could be called the Kriss Kringle strategy — in the holiday classic “Miracle on 34th Street” where Santa earns the trust of shoppers by sending Macy customers to rival Gimbel's because it makes sense and is the right thing to do. This is basically the same except I'm trying to build credibility with users as well as make Hartland Patch the place to go for hyperlocal news.

Dissecting Video

HARTLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. — As you work on your video assignment, I thought I'd share a little bit about the ones I've been producing for Patch. Note, I've included one I haven't done, as well, for discussion purposes.

First, let me explain my philosophy on videos: Like articles, my style is to not insert myself overtly into the story. That means I want the subject to come through as much as possible, so I edit out my questions and banter in favor of black screens with the questions in text form. This way, I can edit down the footage more easily and provide transitions for the viewer.

I also want to say that video is not my greatest strength. While I've had visual experience in my journalism career (taking a video and photography classes in high school and shooting pictures on one of my internships) writing has always been my main focus. Yet, I welcome more video opportunities because it gives journalists, I believe, more options in telling the story.

So, I would encourage everyone to practice video and incorporate it whenever you can because there aren't as many people out there with these skills.

Debating the rush with hyperlocal

Note: Below is an example of news aggregation. This blog’s topic is online journalism and its audience is this class. Also, because this involved something related to what I do, I offer my view. In your case, you might just want to summarize the news unless you feel you have something to add that makes your content more compelling.

HARTLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. — This weekend, I posted a couple dozen photos on the Facebook page for Hartland Patch, but could I have waited? In this post, Rick Edmonds of PoynterOnline discusses whether hyperlocal news needs to be published immediately, saying unlike breaking news of regional or national importance, “I have a hard time, though, recalling a neighborhood story I wish I had known about right away.”

Edmonds says he doesn't mind waiting for his hyperlocal news because it's just not a prominent as bigger stories. He's also "underwhelmed" by digital hyperlocal news, preferring the more traditional community papers, instead.

What I would say as an editor of a soon-to-be launched hyperlocal publication, is the sooner I can publish content, the sooner it's useful to the site's audience. If I wait, they might never find it as they move on to something else, but once it's up, those who start looking later in the week should still be able to find it.

Check out Hartland Patch’s Twitter and Facebook pages

HARTLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. — This week, I launched the Twitter and Facebook pages for Hartland Patch. The intent is to provide a flavor of what we'll be doing when we launch the main page and to begin to create local buzz and a following.

Tell me what you think from an online journalism perspective and you'll receive extra credit points. Feel free to criticize or compliment the look, content or who is followed/"liked."