Marcus Constantino
A blog post by Charleston Daily Mail Editor and Publisher Brad McElhinny
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Well done to Charleston Daily Mail multimedia reporter Marcus Constantino, who has been recognized for his compilation of a useful and interesting interactive timeline of the WV water contamination.
The timeline, which Marcus compiled using a program called Timeline JS, organized news links, photos, videos, social media and reports — making it one-stop-shopping for people who want to look back at what 300,000 of us went through this past winter.
The project won a monthly award from Digital First Media for April for the region including West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Journalists from other Digital First Media publications judge the work. Here is what one judge said:
The timeline compilation provided a clean and clear path through what otherwise would have been a daunting array of reporting for someone unfamiliar with the story. I feel that I journeyed from the position of ignorant visitor to an interested and affected local following the trail of stories, reading about the incident as it unfolded. Great work from the reporters gathering the information, writing solid stories, shooting helpful and informative video.
Another judge said:
They say journalism is the first draft of history, and the Daily Mail’s interactive timeline of the chemical leak provides a comprehensive document of a significant community and statewide event. There’s photo, video, links to previous news stories and primary source documents, all presented in an easy-to-follow, visually appealing format. That is no small feat, given the amount of information packed into the timeline. Readers get a sense of how events unfolded over the course of particular days and over the course of weeks and of both the immediate impacts and the long-term policy implications as the state tries to get more regulatory control over this industry. This is a true community service that uses the digital techniques to their full capacity.
This was the third month in a row that Daily Mail staff has won this award…