Tuesday, September 4th, 2012 | Posted by

Jersey Shore Hurricane News Weather’s Another “Hurricane”

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Seaside–Jersey Shore Hurricane News, a facebook page created in 2011 in advance of Hurricane Irene has turned the local news gathering world upside in the past year and survived another  ’hurricane’ this week.   Although Hurricane Isaaic is a not-so-distant memory for those living along the Gulf Coast or the Caribbean, for New Jersey, the remnants of the storm have created flooding and minor damage, but nothing near the damage inflicted by Irene last August.

Founded by Seaside resident, Justin Auciello, a city planner by trade and news and weather hobbyist, the page has grown to over 60,000 fans since he started it a year ago.   On top of that, it has transformed the way breaking news in New Jersey is now delivered, leaving the big players in the industry scratching their heads.

Auciello describes JHSN as “A bottom-up, two-way news outlet, JSHN is news for the people, by the people. JSHN covers breaking news, traffic, and weather.”    Over the past few months, he has expanded coverage to include missing persons reports, assists local job seekers, missing pet notices and the news reported by Auciello and his 60,000 contributors has changed the very fabric of breaking news reporting.

Editors in newsrooms across the state now come to Jersey Shore Hurricane News for on the ground information and photos of breaking news events.

As media outlets are stretched thin, the cost for covering news has skyrocketed.    JSHN’s contributor photos are often seen in the local news media for breaking stories.    The fans on the page quite often, if not all of the time, share photos and information on events long before the mainstream media even finds out about it.

Auciello says that while he doesn’t mind newspapers and radio stations using the content contributed by JHSN fans, he said there were a few cases where media outlets were taking photos and not crediting the fan page.  In a conversation last week, he said “I don’t mind that they use them, this is why we started the page, to inform people, all I ask is that they give proper credit as they would any other source.”    Most have come around these days and now properly credit their photo source when snaking photos from the facebook page.   It’s what any honest journalist would do.

Now Auciello says he’s grappling with the reality of JSHN’s growth.    It has become bigger than he ever could have expected and time consuming.   This month to help pay for costs associated with the venture, Auciello partnered with Jackson based small business On-the-Spot-Graphics to create a website where contributors and fans can buy JSHN apparel and a small portion of the proceeds helps out with the bills.
On any given day, facebook users can go on the JSHN page and see what’s going on across the Garden State as it happens. Fans post photos of breaking news, breathtaking photos from all over New Jersey and share information with each other about current events…as they happen.  It has become essentially, reality reporting for New Jersey.  There’s no script, no edited dialog for an anchor and no revisions by teams of editors and copy editors.    It’s Jersey style.  Take it as it is or don’t take it at all.
The downside of the project, which Auciello admits is verifying the accuracy of reports.   It’s an issue he says he is working on and aware of.   Moderating such a large public community has been a job in itself.    At the end of the day however, the work being done by Auciello and his 60,000 news contributors is transforming the way Jersey residents get the news.   While old-guard publications might see the page as a threat, some such as our own Toms River Magazine have embraced JSHN’s arrival on the local news scene.   We see the page as valuable tool in the gathering and reporting of news, especially here at the Jersey Shore.
“We don’t see JSHN as a competitor or a threat to what we do,” says Phil Stilton, editor of Toms River Magazine. “It’s an incredible service that compliments daily and weekly news outlets.   Why should anyone have to wait 24 hours to find out what’s happening in their neck of the woods.  We wish JSHN continued success and thank them for kick-starting what was becoming a pretty dull news scene here in New Jersey, controlled mostly by out of state mega-corporations.  It’s good to see local thriving.  It also showcases the hard and dangerous jobs our first responders face each day.”
If you haven’t yet joined the Jersey Shore Hurricane News page, visit http://www.facebook.com/JerseyShoreHurricaneNews and get started now!
Photos: Examples of exclusive photos found only at Jersey Shore Hurricane News of the passing remnants of Hurricane Issaic on the morning of 9/4/12.

Got news to share? Send your news tips, accomplishments, photos and stories to news@ocsignal.com. We are always looking for great news here in Ocean County.

Posted by on Sep 4 2012. Filed under Community, In the News, Jersey Shore, News, Photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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