Friday, February 15, 2008

Northern Star covers NIU shootings

The Northern Star, the student newspaper at Northern Illinois University, has done an impressive job covering yesterday's shootings at the DeKalb university.

The first story went up on the newspaper's Web site at 3:59 p.m., less than an hour after the incident began, according to Jim Killam, adviser to the newspaper.

Today the staff came out with an 8-page paper without any ads. But Killam noted that with classes cancelled today and through the weekend and some students going home to their families, many people won't see the paper until next week. The Web, as is usually the case with a major breaking news story, is the primary vehicle for reporting the news.

The Northern Star's online coverage includes video reports, breaking news updates, a list of events (such as scheduled news conferences and event cancellations) and a message board where people can share their thoughts.

Daniel Parmenter, who worked for the Northern Star as an advertising representative, was one of six killed in the shooting.

The Northern Star's coverage can be seen as a model for what student media can do in the event of a crisis.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Daniel Parmenter is a guardian angel and he is of Norman origin (he is a stormin' Norman!). He is a direct descendant of Elias Parmenter, the veteran of the American Revolutionary War.