Students use new tools to cover Boston Marathon
More than 50 journalism students equipped with digital cameras, laptop computers, cell phones and plenty of initiative filed dozens of stories and many were featured on major news outlets during the 113th Boston Marathon on April 20, 2009. Their coverage was carried by CNN, WBZ news radio, New England Cable News (NECN), Boston.com, WBZ-TV and WCVB and its website, the Boston Channel.
The event marked a great opportunity to experiment with different technologies for reporting as "citizen journalists". Sasha Norkin, associate professor of Journalism, said the assignment taught students that news is perishable, stories and quality count, and that Internet access can be challenging at times.
"Students who produced good stories, or captured good pictures or interviews and were able to deliver them in a timely fashion were very successful in getting on major news outlets," Norkin said. "Those who had good stories but delivered them too late or didn't have captivating coverage, even though, delivered in a timely fashion, didn't fare as well."
Here is a sampling of those reports:
- Family gives free food and supplies to runners (Jennifer Oles)
- Boston Marathon medical tent volunteers (Doug Chin & Michelle Macaluso)
- Scenes from the marathon (Husna Haq)
- Scenes from Heartbreak Hill (Cristina Cruz)
- Scenes from Coolidge Corner (Connor Gleason & Jen Judson)
- Marathon Monday BBQ (Maggie Pacheco)
- Marathon Moments (Mary Stackhouse)
