Log on for breaking news

Web Editor Adam Flinter and gulfnews.com are there every step of the way

The day started with a phone call. Now that in itself is not unusual, it's just that on normal days the phone call is usually a little later than 7am and tends not to wake me from my slumber.

"There's a fire somewhere in Al Quoz," said the voice at the other end. The inevitable stupid question followed... "How big is it?" As I opened the curtains and peered out of the window of my apartment in Satwa I got my answer: a thick cloud of acrid black smoke was spiralling its way across Dubai.

"OK, I'm on my way in," I said as I grabbed my clothes and camera, and headed for the door.

By the time I made it into the office we had already published an one-line story confirming the fire and other minor details.

One line is all we need to make a story, there is no need for every single detail to be published straight away in a big breaking news situation.

Within 15 minutes we had expanded that into a three-line story, with more details of when the fire broke out, its exact location and a picture taken by a member of staff.

Familiar routine

This was part of a now familiar routine for the staff on the Gulf News web team. We have had web breaking news workflow in place for more than three years.

Although there was certainly activity and excitement, there was no panic as when a big story breaks. Everyone knew what they should be doing. Getting reader pictures, comments and regular updates was also part of the task.

It was obvious this was going to be the major story of the day, so jobs were allocated accordingly.

A colleague on the web team searched our database for the best of the reader photos that had started to trickle in, while another person uploaded the plethora
of pictures that had arrived from other members of staff.

We knew we would be inundated with readers' pictures (in this day and age everyone carries a camera, and readers tend to flock to our photo upload facility) and the major task would be to quickly weed out the pictures in which we could not verify the identity of the photographer.

This is a very important job as it is critical that Gulf News does not publish pictures when we don't know who took them, when they were taken and who owns
the copyright.

Another member of staff was dedicated to sifting through the dozens of comments and eyewitness accounts that were starting to come in.

The website has strict guidelines about what it can and cannot post when it comes to breaking news stories and verifiable facts.

In fact, when it comes to major breaking stories, journalists from the Gulf News readers desk will also be in the thick of the action, verifying comments to go in the print publication and contacting people who send in email offers of pictures and video.

A reader who happened to catch the moment of the blast called into the office.

It was early - still before 9am - so the gulfnews.com deputy editor went to meet the reader and interview him (still shaking from the adrenaline of seeing and hearing such a blast) and to ask if we could use his photos.

Luckily for us, these photographs were the best of the day, capturing a mushroom cloud that threw debris 50 metres into the air and across the industrial estate.

My job in these situations is to make sure the site is up to date with the latest news. I liaised with the reporters in the field and the photographers to ensure every important angle was covered.

This also included making sure the news was kept up to date on Radio 1 and Radio 2. Gulf News's own stations had to be up-to-the-minute with reports about access to the Al Quoz area and the latest news from the fire.

The main point of covering major UAE breaking stories at Gulf News is simple - to get as much important factual information into the public domain as possible.

From within a few minutes of the fire being reported to Gulf News, we had a presence on the story. From an one-line story in the waking hours to a fact-driven piece later in the day, we were there every step of the way and we were able to contribute to the broader pieces, which went in print the following day.

Regular updates

But it isn't just major news stories. Gulfnews.com is updated regularly - with input from what were traditional print news reporters - throughout the day with important stories from the UAE, the region and the world.

It didn't happen overnight, and it isn't perfect even now. But the processes are in place, and I hope that Gulf News readers will continue to see the improvements and view the website as part of a complete daily news package.