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This weblog was developed and is supported by the Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute, Baruch College, CUNY
Sep
2
On Gustav
Posted by Vera Haller on Sep 2, 2008 under: blogs, community journalism, multimedia, online news, social networking
New Orleans Times-Picayne, whose staff heroically covered Hurricane Katrina three years ago, was back at it yesterday as Gustav swept onto the Louisiana coast. The newspaper’s Web site presented a textbook example of how to cover a big event happening under its nose. A red banner across the top, alerted readers of the main links of the coverage — news and hurricane tracker, a resident survival guide with nitty, gritty details about developments community by community and a place for readers to post their photos, videos and comments. Photos were updated regularly and the site carried information that people affected by the storm could use.
One area of coverage that was slow to develop was user generated content. Usually in weather stories, photos and video uploaded by the reading public are plentiful. Around 7:30 p.m. yesterday, hours after the storm came ashore, very little of this content was available on line. Obviously, this was because most people had evacuated the area so very few people were on hand to witness the event. More of this type of material was available by Tuesday morning. Check out this interactive map on CNN’s iReport.
For more on how the news media tried to harness social media for reporting on Gustav read a column posted today by Al Tompkins at the Poynter Institute. He interviewed NPR’s Andy Carvin about the “Voices of Gustav” Web site he helped create. These efforts to build community around a news event represent the new ways news outlets are approaching a story.
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4 Responses to “On Gustav”
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In Carvin’s interview on Poynter Online he makes a lot of good points to make a new path in journalism. With his site Voices of Gustav he recruited tons of volunteers and concerned people to help. He pointed out that the difference between what he did and journalism is that he didn’t treat people like an audience, he asked them for aid. That is such a refreshing idea and it really interested me to see how it turned out and pushed me to view his page. Plus he also admits to having to enforce people to look at other media websites to become better informed and know how to help in various ways. The New Orleans website that served as a center for breaking hurricane news was impressive and helpful but I couldn’t help but think that if I were in a hurricane and my power was going in and out how accessible a website would actually be? Before it occurs or when it is winding down is when it is most useful. But as it actually goes on I would think one would rely more on their portable battery radios than their wifi connection.
Local news outlets can be very useful because the staff is usually made of people who know the area better. It’s great of Carvin set up this project and have it run the same way. I look forward to see how this website will be handled in any future disasters.
Nothing says a big head liner than a hurricane. Katrina was nearly 3 years ago, but Gustav is at our door steps. All types of media can play a part in covering the story. Photojournalism, videos, maybe even pod cast. on Ireport,Alekz Londos showed us through pictures the emptiness of a town a day before a deadly hurricane. I really appreciated those photos and the story he wrote along with it.
When readers see accompanying photos / videos depicting the destruction and damage of a natural disaster, they can further empathize with those affected. A storm that can affect an entire city is pretty serious - imagine if the island of Manhattan had to be evacuated completely