How does your newsroom tell the story of the coronavirus? Let us know.
Sydney Hoover works from a table under a window in the bedroom of her formative years in De Soto, Kansas. If it’s nice, open that window and listen to the birds as he reports on schools in Eudora, Kansas, that are closed due to the coronavirus. It’s hard to concentrate there, where he sleeps, with his circle of relatives running outside, so he uses a spearmint oil diffuser. Who helps.
Lucie Krisman is regularly alone on breaks around the house. He now sits at a table in front of a mirror in the bedroom from his formative years, more than two hundred miles from Eudora in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There he covers the decisions of the municipal government of Eudora. the parents reorganized things after Krisman left for college, so it doesn’t feel like before.
And when the weather is nice, Cami Koons works in the sun on her rental porch in Lawrence, Kansas, writing stories about how the other people at Eudora are dealing with COVID-19.
All over the world, bloodhounds have built desks on kitchen countertops, porches and dining room tables. For a student-run newspaper that’s the only local newscast committed to a small Kansas town, those makeshift offices are a window into what’s happening during a network stuck at home.
Overseeing them all is Teri Finneman, an assistant professor at the University of Kansas, who presented The Eudora Times as an elegance to bring local news to Eudora, which hasn’t had its own local newsroom since 2015.
Together, they cover the school district, municipal government, businesses, churches, and citizens of Eudora as they adjust to life from a pandemic.
Related: Coronavirus is the story of our lives. Here are the resources for your newsroom, say so.
Like many people, it took a while for the KU students who make up the newsroom’s core team to realize the magnitude of this story. This happened when the pandemic seeped into his interviews, no matter the subject.
Young bloodhounds are also adapting, asking for in-person interviews, pushing for access to meetings, looking for sources on social media.
Gen Z is grieving to be self-centered as the coronavirus spreads and they celebrate spring break, Finneman said on a Zoom call with Poynter and his team.
“I’m moved to think of those women on this call right now, and how they interfere without being paid at all,” she said, choking. Amazing to see.
Related: Here are the layoffs, holidays, and newsroom closures caused by the coronavirus
The number of other people who follow the site’s Facebook page is growing, and at the start of the pandemic, donations of $700 poured in from the community.
“We have so much news right now that I’m looking to recruit more reporters to join us,” Finneman said.
None of them know when things will return to normal.
“For a 21-year-old with little fun in the world, it feels like it’s never going to end,” Hoover said.
But when they do, they know they’ll be among the news hounds telling the coronavirus story, which is pretty good, Hoover said, “in a way. “
Kristen Hare covers the transformation of local news for Poynter. org and writes a weekly newsletter on transforming local news. Want to be part of the conversation? You can log in here. Kristen can be reached on khare@poynter. org or on Twitter at @kristenhare.
This daily look at local news policy is made imaginable thanks to the help of John S. and James L. Knight.