Bozeman shocked

Last week, a restaurant in downtown Bozeman blew up and started a fire that destroyed five businesses. It was arguably the biggest local story in 10 years. Some people said it was the biggest local story in the last 80 years.

From a journalism standpoint there were many different story lines. Obviously, people impacted by the explosion. One woman was killed. Five families have lost their businesses and I don't know how many people are out of work. (I should know, because that would be a good fact to have.)

The news during the day of the explosion was dished out most efficiently on the Internet. Twitter, blogs, NewWest – they were all outpacing the Bozeman Daily Chronicle all day with both photos and news. It was an astounding example of how a daily newspaper, that thinks like a daily newspaper, struggles to compete, in terms of timliness, with the Internet.

I've yet to write anything of substance on the explosion. For a weekly, the breaking news stuff wasn't relevant and our Web site hasn't been a focus for us. But I'm looking for a more in depth story on the aftermath of the explosion. It's interesting because that's exactly what the Chronicle is doing now too.

Anyway, I did take few photos that I posted here.