What Goes Into a Story And How You Can Help
Dear friend,
Today marks the second week of Mountainair Dispatch's year-end campaign, and I couldn’t be more grateful to share how your support made a big impact in 2024 and give a glimpse into my plans for 2025.
As a reader of the Mountainair Dispatch, you know you can depend on the Dispatch for independent local journalism. But do you know what goes into producing just one story, from start to finish? Take, for example, the reporting on the flooding that took place on June 29, 2024, right as Mountainair was about to kick off its Independence Day fireworks display. Here’s a look at what went into it:
- Over the course of a week, I coded an automated system to monitor the National Weather Service's API for flood warnings in Torrance County in anticipation of potential monsoons (not bad for someone without a background in computer science).
- When the National Weather Service first identified flood risks, it published that data in a format that entered my system on June 26, 2024. I then used the OpenAI API to turn the NWS data into something readable, edited it for my readers, and published it on my website. I used a paid service to relay that post to social media so community members on Facebook were able to get notice as well. As a result, I was able to post an early warning regarding flooding three days before it happened.
- On June 29, 2024, I began coverage of Mountainair's jubilee celebration at 7:00 AM, carrying radio equipment along with my usual camera and video equipment so I could monitor the activities of Torrance County and Mountainair first responders. I also set up my NWS workflow to automatically post weather warnings to my website, since I was working on the jubilee coverage and could not monitor the NWS website. That automated system provided notice of impending monsoon-season weather just 25 minutes after the NWS warning was published.
- With the weather warning, the Mountainair Dispatch coordinated with the town of Mountainair to inform people not to go to the high school for the fireworks as soon as the event was canceled.
- I then switched to monitoring the activities of first responders and scouting the roads in the county to determine which roads were no longer safe to travel (ironically, because my own road became impassable, I could not travel home at the end of the night). I published flood information, with precise grid coordinates, for the use of residents and first responders. I was able to direct residents away from where first responders were rescuing two people caught in the flooding, and wrapped up my reporting for that day at 11:30 PM.
One day of reporting: 16 hours of work, weeks of learning basic coding, months of building relationships, a lifetime of training in land navigation and scouting, and learning how to use UHF/VHF radios. Your support put fuel in my vehicle to get that work done, helped update my photography system, obtained a basic UHF/VHF radio, and obtained access to the OpenAI API. A lot goes into stories besides writing and photography. I put everything I've got into all of these stories because they need to be told. And because of this hard work, we’re making a real difference in our community.
I’m hoping to keep this momentum going into 2025 with plans for
- online and in-person news events for contributing members;
- video coverage of long-form news stories;
- additional coverage of Mountainair sports and judicial matters; and,
- a newcomers guide that will offer local businesses a new opportunity to reach residents.
I’m aiming to raise $7,500 by December 31, which will go a long way towards helping me meet my 2024 goals. Will you be a Mountainair Dispatch supporter and give today to keep us going strong?
I’m grateful to have you join me on this journey as I plot the course for the Mountainair Dispatch for the next year and beyond.
With gratitude,
Todd Brogowski