Pensacola News Journal: Covering a Disaster

Posted on September 18, 2004

The Pensacoloa News Journal has been doing a fantastic job of covering the unfolding disaster in Pensacola caused by Hurrican Ivan. By taking advantage of new journalism concepts like blogs and the ability to rapidly post new materials over the Internet, the editorial staff of the Pensacoloa News Journal has been able to inform readers about urgent situations and damage through frequently updated blogs and extensive photo galleries. The Journal is also providing information and tips that help residents learn what do about insurance, water, power, road closings, school closings and other oridinary things that became difficult in a post-disaster scenario. This is a great example of how an online newspaper can do so much more than the traditional print newspaper. The only downside -- you will need power to access the site. However, people waiting to come back into town can access it and friends and family members can read information on the site and relay it to those in the impacted areas.