By Carolina Hidalgo
“The master narrative was dominated by official releases, and there wasn’t nearly enough on-the-ground reporting.” — Spencer Morris, a recent graduate of San Francisco State University
“It was very thorough for a two-month period, but now is the time when we really need to think about and cover the issues.” — Kenneth Irby, visual journalism group leader and diversity director, Poynter Institute
“There was a lot of spin, which is unfortunate when we’re reporting on a story of that magnitude.” — Tom Haraldsen, The Valley Journals and president of SPJ’s Utah Headliners Chapter
“In the beginning, the press was giving BP a little bit of a break. We should have jumped on the deeper issues sooner. But I think the day-to-day coverage was good.” — Nancy Cook Lauer, Hilo bureau chief, West Hawaii Today
“The press helped people realize the effects … what is going to happen after everything is cleaned up. There was a lot of multimedia and info-graphs, a lot of information that people wouldn’t get normally.” — Chrissy Ashack, a junior and yearbook editor at Indiana University