Comments on: Snow does not have to blow

By: Ryan Mercer

Ryan Mercer — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 05:46:18 +0000

This may seem simplistic, but since we get a lot of snow, our coverage more often than not tries to trend the actually severity of the event. So, if 10 inches of snow falls but nothing happens, oh well. Too many papers invent drama when covering weather — especially broadcast — when there just plainly is none or worse, they don’t commit to getting to places where real news happens during difficult events like snow storms and instead lead with soft news that is easy to get to. If you can’t commit to covering events like these with staff dedicated and equipped to get to the right places – within reason — where news of consequence is actually happening, you’re doomed. Because if a major news event occurs as a result of a storm, but your newsroom just couldn’t get to it, specifically the photo staff for whatever reason, that image of Timmy on his sled for the A1 center is going to look absurd.
Soliciting reader content is great too, but it should not distract newsrooms from getting the job done right on their own. In my experience, the phenomenon of supermarket coverage and the like is fueled by ease. It is easy to hop on a plow truck, easy to get to the supermarket, easy to ask readers to send their own cool stuff to you. And that’s a great idea, especially for web content, but a newsroom should be 100% ready to delivery much much more.

By: A little recognition is a good thing | editor on the verge

A little recognition is a good thing | editor on the verge — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:50:03 +0000

[...] to share with Editor on the verge readers that snow storm coverage suggestions I made in a recent post have been included in the Dec. 14 edition of Al’s Morning Meeting. Now if you’re not [...]

By: Pat Thornton

Pat Thornton — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:12:46 +0000

I like involving readers in stories like these. I would ask them to submit photos, personal accounts and videos.

I also like Ryan’s idea about having specific categories. I think these ideas would be great, because you are right most weather stories are kind of the same once we get past the typical how much snow was there, was there any damage, are there people without power, was anyone hurt, etc. If papers took user-submit content like this for every weather story, it would make each one much more fresh and original.

I also think a database would be great. Why not track each day it snows every year and then users can see how each year stacks up, how each day stacks up, how much snow has fallen, etc.

There are so many ways to tell stories that are much better than a print-centric viewpoint.

By: JohnofScribbleSheet

JohnofScribbleSheet — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:02:30 +0000

Focusing on one point….

“Encourage them to submit photos for an online gallery with the “best” photos as “judged by the staff” going into the next day’s paper.”

Ideas like this have been developed (South Californian papers during the recent fires) but its still quite rare. Also check out Scoopt the citizen photo journalism site.

By: Ryan Sholin

Ryan Sholin — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:26:55 +0000

Why not get even more specific with the call-to-action for reader photos or video?

How about something like a ‘Best Snowman’ category to give readers a direct thread from their computer to going outside and playing to coming back and uploading their images.

By: ScribbleSheet Blog

ScribbleSheet Blog — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:28:14 +0000

[...] community can be involved in reporting, making it refreshing and noteworthy. Go have a look at his four ways and why not suggest them to your local paper. addthis_url = [...]