Wemple: "The Washington Post uses old and new technologies to beat competitors to Blacksburg."

After an assist from the Post’s research unit, Ruane was on the line with the jumper by mid-afternoon. The guy wouldn’t talk but gave Ruane the number of another jumper who might be more willing to open up. That worked. Ruane quoted student Richard Mallalieu describing the onslaught: “A steady pop, pop, pop, pop.”

More phone work added to the scene reconstruction. Reporters Jose Antonio Vargas and Josh White got ahold of people who’d been inside Norris, and together with Ruane’s work, they produced a pint-size narrative of the tragedy for the next day’s editions.