As the news of two explosions at the Boston Marathon broke last week, I sat in my digital journalism class shocked at the Twitter updates coming up on my timeline. Three of my co-workers at Flotrack and good friends, Mitch Kastoff, Ryan Fenton, and Justin Britton, were locked down inside the Fairmont Copley Hotel just blocks away from the Boston Marathon finish line. I relied on updates from the Boston Globe, Associated Press, and several of the running reporters inside the hotel for information as to what is going on.
Much like i have mentioned before, I rely on local news outlets when a big story like this breaks. It takes just a few hours before bigger networks like CNN and FOX arrive on the scene to provide their own coverage. Although, this investigation taught everyone to watch what you believe is being reported. CNN had to backtrack on its original report that a suspect was identified and in custody.
To be honest, I don't see what the Salt Lake Tribune would report that would be any different than anything the Boston Globe or Associated Press reported. They relied on a lot of AP articles for their own content, which did not surprise me.
I did think one point in which they could have ran with their own coverage could have been when it was revealed that a suspect had competed at boxing nationals in Salt Lake City. They were able to gather exclusive photos of the suspect as a boxer in 2009. The accompanying article did a good job of expressing how distant he was from his teammates.
I was very pleased to check the site on Sunday and see coverage of the Salt Lake Marathon which is one of the two big marathons today that had security in question, the other being the London Marathon. They went all out with a video of runners singing Sweet Caroline by Niel Diamond. An interview with a Boston runner was also attached to the article to go with the 79 photos in the gallery. Had it not been for the Boston Marathon, I don't believe it would have got as much recognition, but it was still nice to see everyone in high spirits.
Much like i have mentioned before, I rely on local news outlets when a big story like this breaks. It takes just a few hours before bigger networks like CNN and FOX arrive on the scene to provide their own coverage. Although, this investigation taught everyone to watch what you believe is being reported. CNN had to backtrack on its original report that a suspect was identified and in custody.
To be honest, I don't see what the Salt Lake Tribune would report that would be any different than anything the Boston Globe or Associated Press reported. They relied on a lot of AP articles for their own content, which did not surprise me.
I did think one point in which they could have ran with their own coverage could have been when it was revealed that a suspect had competed at boxing nationals in Salt Lake City. They were able to gather exclusive photos of the suspect as a boxer in 2009. The accompanying article did a good job of expressing how distant he was from his teammates.
I was very pleased to check the site on Sunday and see coverage of the Salt Lake Marathon which is one of the two big marathons today that had security in question, the other being the London Marathon. They went all out with a video of runners singing Sweet Caroline by Niel Diamond. An interview with a Boston runner was also attached to the article to go with the 79 photos in the gallery. Had it not been for the Boston Marathon, I don't believe it would have got as much recognition, but it was still nice to see everyone in high spirits.