Following a deadly shooting on the Virginia Tech campus that sparked memories of the massacre there in 2007, all of the news stations in Roanoke went live on Thursday afternoon.
As police continue to hunt down a gunman who killed two people, WDBJ, WSET, and WSLS have preempted their regularly scheduled programming to provide ongoing breaking news coverage. Fox-affiliate WFXR has been carrying coverage from its sister station, WSLS.
One thread running through all of the coverage is the stations’ use of web-based technology to provide the viewer with multiple access points to the story. Shortly after the shootings occurred, WDBJ embedded a CoverItLive module on its homepage where the station’s reporters have been provided up-to-the-second updates. WSLS deployed several reporters to the Virginia Tech campus, including Ken Heineck and Aaron Martin, who used Skype to report live using their phones.