Since last Sunday, Ark Valley Voice, together with 21 other news media organizations across the state of Colorado, have been rolling out the stories of Coloradan’s experience with the coronavirus known as COVID-19 in a special series we call COVID Diaries Colorado.
On a single day – April 16 – nearly 100 journalists from those news organizations fanned out across the state, from the mountains to the plains, from the big cities to the small towns, documenting what that day was like. The subject; people dealing with the medical, financial, and emotional impacts of this horrible virus, for which there is as yet, no cure.
As it turns out, that day marked the single largest day of death in this country (so far) from the pandemic. It was also a day when much of the state got blanketed by a spring snowstorm and a killing frost. It was a day with main streets closed, hospitals on edge, schools trying to feed hungry families, arts venues trying to survive, children being born to parents sick with COVID-19, parents being buried, pastors trying to minister to heart-sick people. That day, just as today, Colorado counties did not have enough test kits.
Our collaboration represented the first time that news media that normally compete, worked together to pursue a news topic. We came together as digital, print, television, and radio formats to share a coverage topic, and from there, we moved on to sharing each other’s COVID Diaries stories.
This remarkable effort was made possible with a tool known as StoryShare; a news collaboration platform created by the Associated Press and funded by Google. This was the first combined effort, but it will not be the last.
While there are dozens more COVID Diaries stories coming in the series another aspect of this 22-newsroom effort is that History Colorado is placing the entire series of 60 stories into their archives. They have invited the media to extend an invitation to our readers to add to this archive.
“We invite your readers/listeners in sharing their COVID diaries. History Colorado stands ready to receive video diaries, photos, and essays, to add to the COVID Diaries – experiences of what it has been like to live through this pandemic, that will live on for posterity in the state archives, not unlike StoryCorps does for Library of Congress.” For more information: https://www.historycolorado.org/covid-19
Featured image: Gathering Grounds Community Food Co-Op. Gallian (right) poses with a customer after the hand off. Thought the masks are doing their job, all eyes are smiling – Merrell Bergin photo
This story is powered by COLab, the Colorado News Collaborative. Ark Valley Voice joined this historic collaboration with more than 20 other newsrooms across Colorado to better serve the public and tell the story of what it has been like as our state deals with the COVID-19 pandemic.
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