A shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., put reporter Jeff Amy, chief photographer Mike Stewart and video journalist Sharon Johnson quickly on the road to the scene about an hour outside Atlanta.
Amy arrived first. He sent a few still images of the scene, which got AP on the board until Stewart got there. Amy sent in some color for text and then proceeded to interview student after student about the horror that happened inside their school, capturing those interviews on video with his cell phone. In the meantime, Johnson covered a news conference live. Producers were able to cut multiple edits off Johnson’s live shots and meet huge customer interest. Video journalist Erik Verduzco also sped to the scene from North Carolina, arriving Wednesday evening and immediately started shooting, including a vigil and late news conference, with live shots.
Amy’s efforts were a textbook example of all-formats coverage on a big breaking story. He posted the videos in Slack, where video producers could access them as well as text journalists for the story.
Stewart moved several strong scene setters and photos of students interviewed. During the evening, he shot heartbreaking, powerful images of parents, students and others at the vigil for the victims. Amy’s focus on talking to students allowed him to write a detailed, gripping inside look at the shooting through their eyes. That story garnered an engagement time of about 2 minutes, a testament to his smart reporting.
The story had hundreds of thousands of views. Johnson’s live shots satisfied a huge demand for coverage by members. Amy’s video interviews with students also got extensive play. Amy’s follow up inside look at the shooting garnered an engagement time of about two minutes.
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