VCU Capital News Service Adds Twitter to General Assembly Coverage

By Tom Gresham

The Capital News Service, which is staffed by students in the School of Mass Communications at Virginia Commonwealth University, will use the social media tool Twitter to provide up-to-the-minute coverage during the upcoming Virginia General Assembly session, adding to the in-depth reporting it already provides for its clients.

Because the Capital News Service Twitter site is not limited to CNS clients, anyone can use the service to keep track of the state legislature. Capital News Service reporters and editors will write multiple posts each day of the upcoming session, highlighting the day’s major stories and sending occasional dispatches after press conferences, committee hearings and other activities. Twitter limits posts to 140 characters, allowing for quick headlines about the day’s events. The CNS Twitter page can be found at https://twitter.com/vcucns.

CNS, which was started in 1994, provides free, in-depth coverage of the state government to Virginia’s community newspapers. The service’s staff of 20 reporters and six editors will cover the General Assembly for approximately 70 outlets this session. Coverage is tailored to each outlet.

In addition to print news coverage, CNS will produce podcasts, short videos and audio slide shows. CNS reporters also will discuss state government issues on VCU InSight, a public affairs TV program produced and staffed by VCU mass communications students that airs on Richmond’s PBS affiliate, WCVW.

For more information about CNS, contact CNS director, Jeff South, associate professor of journalism at VCU, at jcsouth@vcu.edu or (804) 827-0253.