Saturday's unexpected news that Shirley Tilghman will be retiring from the University presidency sent The Daily Princetonian into overdrive.
Over the span of 12 hours, a team of 19 editors and 19 staffers aggressively covered the story from all angles in all media, from print to video to social media. Staff from across campus converged on the newsroom to write 11 full-length articles or columns and publish more than 40 tweets and Facebook posts. In addition, we shot a video, created an interactive timeline and searched through all of the 'Prince' photo archives to find old photos of Tilghman.
This weekend's coverage exemplified two of the news organization's top priorities this year: the transition to a 24/7 news organization and the integration of sections across the newspaper.
Read on below to see how it all came together:
11:51 a.m.: Tilghman announces her decision to retire in an email to the student body.
11:55 a.m.: The University publishes a press release.
11:58 a.m.: After discussing the announcement briefly with News Editor Teddy Schleifer, I email all 'Prince' editors. Subject line: "BREAKING ALL HANDS ON DECK."
11:59 a.m.: Associate News Editor Luc Cohen emails all news reporters, calling for reporters to converge on the newsroom.
12:00 p.m.: We tweet about Tilghman's announcement, the first news organization to break the news.
12:05 p.m.: Cohen arrives at One Nassau Hall to wait for an interview with Tilghman.
12:08 p.m.: A short article and breaking news banner are posted online.
12:14 p.m.: Article is updated and posted with more detail.
12:26 p.m.: Cohen's interview with Tilghman begins; it lasts roughly 30 minutes. Associate Photography Editor for Projects Meredith Wright and Multimedia Editor Lisa Han photograph and shoot video, respectively. Photos are posted within 10 minutes of the interview's end.
12:27 p.m.: Associate Photography Editor Merrill Fabry tasks photographers to head to Nassau Hall.
12:36 p.m.: News staffers are told to either be at Nassau Hall or in the newsroom.
12:38 p.m.: Newsroom determination is made that, instead of a special issue on Monday, we would try to publish a Sunday edition; Business Manager Alex Gerson is brought into the loop.
12:51 p.m.: Editorial Board Chair Britt Sanders tasks the Editorial Board to begin brainstorming a Tilghman editorial.
1:03 p.m.: I ask our printer to prepare for a rare Saturday night press run.
1:51 p.m.: Managing Editor Andrew Budnick emails full newspaper staff to prepare to come to work that night.
2:30 p.m.: Discussions with Design Editor Dora Huang begin about how to portray the news in print.
Over the next eight hours, reporters and editors track down sources from across campus and the country and copy editors convene to edit stories.
11:00 p.m.: Print deadline.
11:12 p.m.: Confirmation received that printing will begin soon.
Sunday 9:23 a.m.: Distribution begins across campus.
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