Outcue: How journalists drive for information sometimes finds new angles to ongoing stories

On this edition of the 21 News podcast, 'The Outcue,' Assistant News Director Justin Mitchell talks with Senior Digital Content Manager Robert McFerren about the drive and burn that makes journalists do what they do.

This podcast explains what happens behind the scenes and the story behind the story.

In this case, we requested all the emergency calls handled by Youngstown Police and Fire Dispatch Center on May 28, the day of the downtown Realty building explosion, after a natural gas line was cut in the facility.

How many calls could that be? In total, there were more than 300 calls. Why go through them now? A reporter's intuition that says we will find a new angle to an ongoing story. 

And we did.

We looked into why it took more than two hours for Ohio Edison to respond that day to a severe crisis where water was pouring into the Realty building, and emergency crews needed the electricity shut off to attempt to rescue people from inside the building. We listened as Police and Fire dispatch pleaded and ultimately became frustrated over the lack of timely response, only to find a crew came downtown, saw the roads closed due to the emergency, and allegedly left, according to the 911 calls.