How did Homicide Watch get started? How do you do your reporting? What are you working on? Who else is doing this work? Is this a blog or a news site?
I get a lot of questions about Homicide Watch, from readers, people I meet in court, and other journalists. I answer them as I can, but the reality is that what we’re doing here can be a little hard to explain. We are information-oriented, reporting a very traditional newsroom beat: crime. We do not have any goal, other than helping build a more informed community. But we don’t operate out of a newsroom (unless you consider our newsroom my kitchen… or the chairs in the halls of the Moultrie Courthouse) and we use a lot of techniques to tell stories in lots of different ways.
What we don’t do is throw ideas and information up just to see if it sticks. I spent a year building a journalism model for Homicide Watch and I’m committed to moving the project forward with as much thought as possible. That’s why I’m opening up my notebook to you.
I started a Tumblr account this week to keep a public accounting of how Homicide Watch develops. First, I think it’s valuable for those involved in independent online journalism to follow each other’s progress, failures and successes. Second, I’ve always wanted Homicide Watch to be as community-driven as possible. As I look at changing features and moving forward on our redesign, I want your input.
You can also follow me on Twitter @LauraNorton and, for homicide news, there is of course @homicidewatch.
