We just followed a breaking news story over the past 24 hours. So, what did we learn?
Well, it doesn't take much to notice the added detail and depth of the story over time. With each update, readers were provided with new findings in the case and were left more informed on the background of the two victims.
Think back to the orginial story that was posted on the Sentinel's homepage. The story provided little, if any, detail. All it told us was that two people had been found dead in their home following a well-being check-up by police.
But, when the story was updated nearly 8 hours later, readers were provided with the names of the deceased, what they did for a living, and why police went to the house in the first place (one of the victims never showed up for work). Readers should also notice that the headline of the story, and the writer of the story, have changed as well.
The headline change reflects the fact that new information has been released in the case and lets readers know that the story has been updated.
The author change is something different. As is common with many crime-related articles at newspapers, story ideas develop from the police scanner. I'm willing to bet that someone in the newsroom initially found out about the dead couple from the police scanner and wrote a quick brief (for the web) from that information. After that, it is likely that editors assigned the story to a specific reporter on that beat.
The story was next updated at 1:38 p.m. the next day (almost 15 hours after the last update). While it took quite some time to learn the latest, the new story gave readers more background on the victims and shed a bit more light on the circumstances of the situation. Again, the headline changed to reflect the update (and another writer was added to the story).
The next update came just one hour later and provided even more detail on the case. Readers were now provided with the cause of death for the husband was revealed (self-inflicted gunshot wound). The wife's cause of death, according to the article, was still unknown (and would likely be included in a later follow-up on the case). The headline has once again changed.
While they may go right over the head of some readers at the time, it is pretty interesting to go back and look at a series of updates to a breaking news story and take note of the changes and additions included. If you didn't notice the changes when following the story the first time, I urge you to go back and take another look. I'm sure you'll even notice some that I didn't.
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