As news on the shuttle’s crash came out, Florida Today posted continual updates to its “Columbia landing journal,” a Weblog of the failed landing and the aftermath. This was a particularly effective format for breaking news such as this: as tidbits were released, staffers John Kelly, Chris Kridler and Kelly Young added the latest details, getting the news out fast and giving readers an easy way to see the latest news without having to comb through long articles and figure out what’s been added since they last read it. This nicely complemented the site’s comprehensive coverage, including its exclusive close-up video of the Columbia launch, showing debris possibly hitting the wing. Spaceflight Now’s site also ran Weblog-like updates as news broke, in a feature called “Mission Status Center.” A great way to cover breaking news online.
