During regular business hours, independent reporter Larry Calhoun works as a manager. Alan Henney is a full-time caregiver. Others like them balance being college students.
Hours for prime reporting, however, continue late into the night for these Twitter users covering crime, traffic, and other breaking news in and around Washington, D.C.
Despite Twitter’s shifting functions and guidelines under the ownership of Elon Musk, about half of Twitter users regularly get news from the site, according to a 2022 survey by the Pew Research Center. Meanwhile, the number of broadcast and print news consumers has declined. A 2022 YouGov survey of over 93,000 online news consumers in 46 markets revealed that the gap between news viewership on websites and apps versus social media is continuing to widen.
This shift in news consumption created an opportunity for independent reporters like Calhoun, who has run @RealTimeNews10 on Twitter since May 2020.
Demand and a collective passion for public safety has led to the emergence of Calhoun and those like him. Calhoun was inspired to begin his news coverage after speaking with community members, and after a July 2020 incident where he said he was struck by a stray bullet in Prince George’s County.
“I’m someone who has that ability to talk about these issues … I’ve been victimized by someone who wanted to shoot indiscriminately in my community,” Calhoun said. “And I’ve been hurt and injured. And so I don’t want to see anybody else deal with that. … You just wouldn’t believe how many people were just really concerned about so many things that they see and hear that’s going on around them but not seeing it make it to the news.”
In the D.C. Metro Area, Calhoun is part of a like-minded online community seeking to inform their physical communities. Larger accounts like @RealTimeNews10, @killmoenetwork and @alanhenney, have tens of thousands of followers. Many, like Calhoun, attribute their growth on social media to their ability to share information quickly.
Many accounts primarily report crime alerts, from carjackings to domestic abuse situations. Other accounts like @CordellTraffic report on traffic incidents, fires and even construction on roadways. The ability to report on multiple beats, they say, is a strength of working for themselves.
Alan Henney studied and started a career in journalism at George Washington University and Channel 9 News in Washington. He began independently reporting news on Twitter in 2011.
“One reason people end up following us because we’re getting it out,” Henney said. “Short circuiting, jumping through the hoops quicker than the traditional news operations which follow the traditional journalism standards. Going back and asking for their comment.”
Several reporters credit Henney for their start in independent journalism. Whereas traditional news organizations are often competitors, independent reporters say they’re collaborators. Vilis Kuskevics started covering Montgomery and Prince George’s counties on Twitter as @MoCoPGNews. He began his account as a hobby in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic after being sent home from the College of Charleston in South Carolina.
Kuskevics said area independent reporters amplify each other’s work, and communicate alerts through a walkie talkie app throughout the day.
“I build relationships with them,” Kuskevics said. “And it’s like, you have to as independent journalists, because there’s only a handful of us. So if we can’t work together, then you know, what’s the point?”
Kuskevics’ coverage area includes several colleges, and as a student himself he says he is able to see incidents from students’ perspective. Kuskevics is passionate about highlighting the importance of mental health on his feed, and was able to do so last month after an off-campus incident near the University of Maryland.
“I did learn recently that by posting the number to the 988 lifeline, someone called in after I tweeted what happened, and just was able to talk for a little bit,” he said. “And she kind of told me like ‘hey, that saved my life. You putting that info out there to reach the 988 lifeline.’”
Reporters like Kuskevics utilize a long list of tools in their reporting process. These resources include apps for metrorail incidents, helicopter activity and crime alerts. The reporters also use communication and text messaging apps like Zello and GroupMe to push alerts to each other. The apps allow reporters to quickly communicate about each other’s beats.
“Alan may throw something at me just to let me know what’s going on. And then I can go jump on his scanner and catch up with it and monitor it and I can drop a report,” Calhoun said. “That’s the good thing about social media. I don’t need to be in-office. I don’t need to be at a computer. I can drop a report straight from my phone.”
Independent reporters pride themselves on their efficiency, ability to quickly report on-scene, and their coverage of issues they say are underreported by mainstream media. Additionally, many take pride in being free from funding and able to voice their personal opinions.
“We don’t follow the traditional journalism guidelines,” Henney said. “Before you gotta wait for the police, wait for the press release, wait for the spokesperson to tell you what’s happened. And that’s one reason why we’ve become so popular is that we kind of cut through the bureaucratic tape and get try to get to the story as quickly as possible.”
That’s opened reporters to praise and criticism from the users who follow and engage with them on Twitter. Their credibility and what they cover is sometimes challenged, including by politicians and members of the mainstream media. Police departments and other public safety personnel are sometimes reluctant to provide on-scene information.
“The media will get incorrect information even from the police spokespeople. So it’s not just us making the mistakes,” Calhoun said. “We all make assumptions as humans, and we’re doing it at a much faster pace. We’re trying to get out much quicker and we’ll make mistakes.”
One follower, Lionel Dripps, is a homeowner in Petworth who grew up in Virginia and has lived in Washington for the last 10 years. Dripps noted that research has shown that neighborhood social media apps like Nextdoor can lead people to overestimate how much crime is happening in their neighborhoods.
“Specifically focusing on independent crime reporters, I feel really mixed. I do want to know what is happening in my neighborhood. But consuming news of every crime alert in the D.C. area can give you a mistaken understanding of how much crime is happening,” Dripps said. “Reading some of the crime reporters can make it feel like D.C. is a war zone, but even though violent crime has increased, D.C. is still seeing dramatically less crime than in the ‘90s.”
Supporters praise crime news accounts for operating like a database and helping citizens stay alert about certain areas.
“They report quicker than official news,” said Ally Vyne, an independent documentary filmmaker in Maryland. “Seems like they have bigger boots on the ground touching base with D.C. residents immediately after an event occurs. They also report on politics as it relates to crime. They help give us a voice.”
Regardless of feedback, Calhoun and others say their passion for informing the public fuels them.
“I kind of put myself in that category of a citizen journalist, but at the same time, I think I’ve earned the moniker as an independent journalist,” Calhoun said. “Just putting in the time and being consistent and accurate, going to scenes and actually documenting.
“So, I feel like I’m doing the same things that regular reporters or journalists that are doing — my lane is just more public safety.”
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