February 22, 2009
To say this week was crazy is definitely an understatement. Well, you know the story about Michael Childers. If not, I’ll start from the beginning.
Friday, Feb. 13, the news desk was having a workshop about proper sourcing and how to find contacts for stories. I was a little unhappy that we had to go to a workshop on one of the few days we had off from the newsroom.
After napping for an hour or so beforehand (since starting college, I have learned napping is only acceptable when you are an infant and when you’re in college), I had just grabbed a pen and paper five minutes before I was supposed to be at the workshop. When I got in, the assistant managing editor began and suddenly, another reporter got a text message saying there was a gunman just two buildings down in Kaufman Hall. Less than two minutes later, the assistant managing editor, the photo editor, the opinion editor and I ran out in search of this man with a gun. Yes, I know that sounds insane, but someone has to go out to find the story, even if it is a man with a gun.
Anyway, we made it just in time to see OUPD escort four professors away from Kaufman and are immediately met with witnesses and police completely stonewalling us. We headed back to the newsroom and got word that more OUPD and fire trucks were at the Huston Huffman Center and later at Walker Center. Those turned out to be two completely different incidents but both Clark Foy and I decided then we needed to train for some marathons if we were going to continue running around like this.
When President David Boren sent the e-mail out to the OU community about the incident hours afterward, everyone in the newsroom bolted to the Internet to find Childers’ Facebook.
After finding the phone numbers of some of his friends and sending him a Facebook message to call me with my personal cell phone number in it, I got a phone call from one his friends telling me how he had spoken to Childers within the last hour. I was amazed! The Daily was getting an exclusive scoop over everyone else, and because of that interview, we were able to identify the instructor who was allegedly attacked and learn a little bit more about Childers’ personality.
Yes, I added the alleged gunman to my Facebook AND gave him my PERSONAL cell phone number. Am I insane? For the story, yes! I, among with others in the newsroom, spent hours searching and finding as much information as we could about Childers from the time we heard of the incident to when we knew he was taken into custody.
Foy and I are now trying to set up an interview with Childers during the course of the trial and both have our fingers crossed for it. I have to say though, when I got home that night, on one of my days off for the week, I was still giddy with excitement. Incidents like these are among the reasons why I wanted to go into journalism in the first place. The rush of knowing you are getting the information first, that you have an edge over the other reporters competing for the story is incredible.
— LeighAnne Manwarren, Norman City Beat Reporter
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