A DEADLY ATTACK ON THE WASHINGTON NAVY YARD...
DRAMA AT THE UNITED NATIONS BETWEEN THE U.S. AND IRAN ... AND EGYPT'S HISTORIC ELECTIONS.
ALL BREAKING NEWS EVENTS THAT DEMAND CONSTANT UPDATES IN THE AGE OF INFORMATION.
AUDIENCES HUNGRY FOR FRESH CONTENT ARE DEMANDING MORE OUT OF REPORTERS THAN EVER BEFORE.
KATE WOODSOME, A MULTIMEDIA JOURNALIST WITH VOA'S ENGLISH WEBSITE, IS WITH US TO EXPLAIN
HOW SHE COVERS BREAKING NEWS ON THE WEB.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US.
DO WE COVER BREAKING NEWS AND HOW DO WE DO IT?
WE DO ACTUALLY.
VOA HAS EARNED ITS REPUTATION FOR BEING RIGHT FIRST, RATHER THAN BEING FIRST.
AND SO WE'LL TAKE A LITTLE BIT MORE METHODICAL APPROACH TO BREAKING NEWS.
AND THIS APPLIES TO ALL OF OUR DIFFERENT PLATFORMS, TV, RADIO AND THE WEB.
ON THE WEB, LET ME SET THE SCENE FOR YOU.
IN A BREAKING NEWS SITUATION, I'M KIND OF LIKE AN AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER.
I'M MONITORING INCOMING FEEDS FROM THE WIRES LIKE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AND REUTERS, I'M
MONITORING TELEVISION, PRESS CONFERENCES AND TWEETS, AND I'M SIFTING THROUGH WHAT IS ESSENTIALLY
STATIC AND WHISPERS AND RUMORS AND SIFTING DOWN INTO THE HEART OF WHAT'S HAPPENING.
SO A BREAKING NEWS SITUATION LIKE THE NAVY YARD SHOOTING, I WAS WORKING THAT DAY AND
I HAD A COLLEAGUE ON THE WEB DESK WORKING WITH ME AS WELL.
AND WE WERE CONFERRING BACK AND FORTH.
I SAW THIS, I SAW THAT, THE NAME OF THE SHOOTER HAD BEEN RELEASED BY A NUMBER OF NEWS AGENCIES.
MANY NEWSPAPERS, MANY ONLINE OUTLETS WERE RUNNING WITH HIS NAME, BUT I HADN'T SEEN IT
CONFIRMED BY POLICE.
AND SO HOW WE HANDLED THAT FOR EXAMPLE WAS WE SAID, MANY NEWS REPORTS ARE REPORTING THE
NAME OF THE SHOOTER BUT WE HAVE YET TO CONFIRM IT FROM OFFICIAL SOURCES.
AND THEN I DUG DOWN INTO POLICE RECORDS TO TRY TO CROSS CHECK SOME OF THE INFORMATION,
AND FINALLY AUTHORITIES CONFIRMED THE NAME OF THE SHOOTER AND WE RAN WITH IT.
SO IN THE MEANTIME, WE'RE LOOKING INTO THE FACTS OF THE RUMORS, WE'RE ALSO PUTTING OUT
WHAT WE KNOW BY SIGHT.
IF THERE'S A PRESS CONFERENCE, I'M TRANSCRIBING IT, I'M POSTING IT ON OUR LIVE BLOG.
VOA CAN BE CRITICIZED FOR BEING A LITTLE BIT SLOWER THAN OTHER NEWS AGENCIES, BUT BOTTOM
LINE, I'M NOT INTERESTED IN CONVICTING SOMEONE IN THE PRESS.
AND SO I'M GOING TO BE A LITTLE BIT MORE DELIVERATE, A LITTLE BIT MORE SLOW, IN MAKING SURE THAT
THE BREAKING NEWS WE PUT OUT IS ACTUAL NEWS RATHER THAN RUMOR.
IN A TIME LIKE THE TIMES THAT WE HAVE RIGHT NOW, WE HAVE TECHNOLOGY, TWITTER AND SOCIAL
MEDIA AND SO MANY THINGS HAPPENING, PEOPLE ARE EXPECTING VOA TO PUT UP SOMETHING INSTEAD
OF A BLANK PAGE.
WHAT DO YOU DO IN SITUATIONS LIKE THAT?
WELL VOA IS EXPERIENCING WHAT SOME WOULD CONSIDER GROWING PAINS AS WE SHIFT FROM BEING AN INSTITUTION
THAT TELLS YOU THE NEWS AT A RECORDED HOUR OF THE DAY ON RADIO TO A 24-HOUR NEWS SITE,
WHERE PEOPLE ARE HUNGRY ALL THE TIME.
SO IN THAT SITUATION OUR WEB TEAM MIGHT POST A SHORT LEAD TO WHAT WILL BE AN EVOLVING NEWS
STORY AS WE START TO FILL IN THE BLANKS.
AND SOMETIMES WE CAN'T COVER EVERYTHING.
AND SO INTERNALLY WE'RE GOING THROUGH A PROCESS OF DECIDING WHO ARE WE, WHAT ARE WE, WHAT
SERVICE DO WE PROVIDE.
AND SOMETIMES THE ANSWER IS WE WANT TO PROVIDE ANALYSIS, WE WANT TO PROVIDE CONTEXT.
SO OUR AUDIENCE MIGHT TURN TO ANOTHER NEWS AGENCY FOR THE BREAKING NEWS, BUT WE'RE GOING
TO BE THERE TO EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED.
OK.
IN 10 SECONDS, TELL US THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR A WEB REPORTER.
WELL, DURING A LIVE BLOG, YOU CAN'T GO TO THE BATHROOM!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS, KATE WOODSOME, VOA ENGLISH NEWS REPORTER FOR OUR MULTIMEDIA
PLATFORM AND OUR WEBSITE.
YOU CAN CATCH HER ON VOANEWS.COM.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US.
GLAD TO BE HERE.
ALL RIGHT.