When two major news events broke in the same morning — a Monday at that — a Canadian newspaper used ScribbleLive to curate the torrent of information into digestible bits.
The Globe and Mail launched it’s very first ScribbleLive liveblog to cover the rebel uprising in Libya. Soon after, news broke that Canadian political leader Jack Layton had died: two major stories in the same morning. The digital team quickly launched a second liveblog to collect reactions to Layton’s death.
The first half of the Libya liveblog, run by the Globe’s Jennifer MacMillan, focussed on updating readers with photos, contextual background from Globe Washington correspondent Paul Koring and tweets from Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground in Libya. Once readers knew what was happening, the Globe switched gears for a live chat with Janice Stein, director of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, who provided insight into what to expect next.
Meanwhile, in the Globe’s Jack Layton memorial liveblog, Shane Dingman posted letters of condolence from politicians and journalists as well as comments sent in by readers. He used ScribbleLive to search for Twitter and Facebook statuses mentioning Layton or his wife, MP Olivia Chow. He also hosted a live chat with John Ibbitson, The Globe’s Queen’s Park columnist and Ottawa political affairs correspondent. Ibbitson spoke about Layton’s legacy and posted the letter the politician had written for Canadians just days before his death. He included links back to stories on TheGlobeandMail.com
When Prime Minister Stephen Harper made his official announcement to Canadians, Dingman switched to live, rapid-fire updates of the speech. By the time it was over, readers were already comfortable using the ScribbleLive blog to send in comments, condolences to the family and even poetry they’d written for the beloved leader.
The Globe also made an interesting editorial decision: within two hours of starting the liveblog, Dingman posted an illustration by Anthony Jenkins — a pair of blue eyes and that famous Layton mustache — the same water-coloured portrait the Globe would feature on their front page the next day. The liveblog readers got the sneak peak.
