A power station building collapse which killed one and left three presumed dead saw a regional daily break several major news updates ahead of the nationals.
The Oxford Mail set up a live blog as the tragedy unfolded at Didcot Power Station on Wednesday, after the newsroom received a tip-off about the incident.
Reporters Sophie Grubb and Michael Race rushed to the scene alongside photographer Damian Halliwell.
The blog was constantly updated throughout the day, breaking major lines such as the first confirmed fatality, and leaving the nationals checking the Mail’s site first for the latest updates.
It received a total of 90,000 views in one day as a result.
The Mail also ran the story on its front page yesterday, along with five pages of in-depth coverage of the disaster.
Assistant Editor Keeley Rodgers said: “It was a team effort and everyone worked round the clock to do the story justice.
“It was a shocking and devastating story involving very little information at the beginning. As events developed the severity and scale of the disaster became apparent.
“Our team of journalists worked well into the night making sure we were giving our readers the very latest updates and pictures from the scene. Their professionalism and attitude throughout was second to none.”
“With the tragic news that rescuers don’t expect to find any survivors it looks like the operation, clean-up and inquiry into how it happened could last for many weeks, if not months. Our thoughts remain with all involved.”
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Well done all involved.
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So proud of ALL the helpers esp emergency services. My older son is a firefighter one of first on scene. Everyone please be careful.
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I followed the Mail coverage via twitter and links to blogs and it was an outstanding team effort. Use of social media at its best. It was on their patch and it certainly showed, they were well on it. Congrats to them, hopefully it added a few to their print sales.
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News tip via a (very quiet) twitter engagement 10-15mins before live blog starts https://twitter.com/billysielu/status/702164262165344257?lang=en
Interestingly the video that was doing the early rounds was sent to them at 4:47pm https://twitter.com/BlaineMSmith/status/702175523154350083?lang=en
The nationals (Reuters, PA, Sky etc) appear to have jumped on that but that persons video was not used on the live blog until 7:33pm.
Is this the same publication that did not put out a police missing persons appeal recently, when the missing person was one of their own staff members?
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