When Reuters closed its liveblog of the triple disaster in Japan after 14 days of live reporting, the resulting story was 298 pages long — the world’s longest news story.
Reuters correspondents reported what was happening on the ground through words, audio and video, while reporters back in the newsroom provided backgrounders and global context for a story that evolved by the minute. Photojournalists kept the blog supplied with a steady stream of photos of collapsed buildings, rescue workers, survivors and a mass grave. A lively discussion about the role of media in Japan coverage unfolded right in the blog. At one point in the days following the earthquake, Reuters’ liveblog received as many as 25,000 unique users, all watching at the same time. Readers tuned in from every continent on the planet (see figure below).
People latched onto the liveblog not just for facts but for a sense of being present—imperfect updates, raw reactions, even small corrections as more info trickled in. There’s something about that mix (a combination of uncertainty, shared concern, and unvarnished truth) that traditional, polished reporting rarely captures. It reads much closer to real life: jittery, sometimes fragmented, always urgent. If you were refreshing the feed in those weeks, you know what I mean—nobody cared about perfect prose. They just wanted to know what was really happening.
Looking back with the benefit of hindsight in 2025, it’s actually wild how this approach has become the default in disaster coverage now. Liveblogs aren’t just for earthquakes or massive news anymore—you see them spun up for elections, protests, even tech launches. There’s an expectation of transparency in journalism that this model helped jumpstart. Not every experiment has paid off, but it’s changed newsroom habits for good. Readers have gotten used to being let in on the messy process, and it’s hard to imagine things ever snapping back to the old ways.
Similar to how it distributes its more traditional reporting, Reuters syndicated its live coverage to media outlets in the U.S. and Canada, including Maclean’s and CityNews. (Rock Content is unveiling a range of syndication capabilities this month.)
The result? A nuanced, calm report that stood out amidst the hysteria of sensationalized media coverage.
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