Throwing together a Scribble and other things we do when news breaks
Wednesday was a newsy day in York and across the country.
Lines formed at Chick-fil-A restaurants to support or protest the chain’s stance on gay marriage. Some stood in line to support First Amendment Rights.
Business reporter Ashley Wislock headed to the West Manchester Mall around 11 a.m. to see what was happening. She tweeted from the scene, letting everyone know that it was “hopping.”
Here’s a rundown of how we deployed resources:
- I started a ScribbleLive session to collect all of Ashley’s tweets, as well as those from anyone else who might be tweeting about #CFA. ScribbleLive is sort of like a Twitter widget and Storify combined. The Scribble (as I like to call it) gives the option of embedding a poll in it, too. The one on this story received 316 votes. You also can track your viewers of the session. At its peak, this one had 52 watchers.
- Ashley tweeted news and photos from the mall. She called in information to fellow business reporter Sean Adkins. Photographer Kate Penn arrived on the scene and snapped a photo before she was asked to stop taking pictures. Sean also pitched in by manning the mall while Ashley went on an assignment, and he was asked to stop talking to people in line. Reporter Teresa Boeckel got in on the action by snapping a photo of the Chick-Fil-A Shrewsbury, which is in the southern end of the county.
- Business editor Cathy Hirko got the discussion started on the YDR Facebook page with a post that morning. I followed up with a post at lunchtime and asked if people knew what was happening in Shrewsbury. Cathy’s post received 68 comments and 22 likes. The second post received 122 comments and 93 likes.
- Sunday editor Scott Blanchard posted the news on Google+.
- Copy editor Brittany Wilson created Gathering Point maps of both York County stores.
Michael Helfrich is sworn in at York City Council Tuesday Jan. 3, 2012. YORK DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS – PAUL KUEHNEL While we were deploying those resources, more news broke. Metro editor Susan Martin got a call from court reporter Rick Lee about a decision in the Michael Helfrich case. In addition to coordinating the news coverage with Rick and city reporter Emily Opilo, Susan:
- Posted the news on ydr.com
- Sent email and text alerts.
- Starter another ScribbleLive session to feed in the incoming tweets from Rick and Emily and included a poll at the top, which received 70 votes.
- Posted the story on Facebook. The post — which urged people to like if they agree and comments if they disagreed — received 69 likes and 13 comments.
And, after all that, Susan still said it was a slow news week.