#47 - Alex Weaver, staff writer, BostInno

On April 15, when most spectators were running away from the blasts at the Boston Marathon finish line, Alex Weaver was rushing toward it.

Weaver covered the marathon bombing and its aftermath as a staff writer for BostInno, an online publication devoted to the tech industry, lifestyle issues and local news in the Boston area.

Initially assigned to cover the marathon itself, he was already in the company’s downtown newsroom when the explosions took place. He saw the first signs of a problem on social media.

“So, we heard the first murmurs of this story. We heard them on Twitter,†Weaver said.

The challenge then was not to the break news, but to verify the facts of the breaking news story and report them as quickly as possible.

Weaver spoke to It's All Journalism Producer Julia O'Donoghue about how he and his colleagues at BostInno covered the bombing and subsequent manhunt.