Capital Region Scene

Anatomy of a story: How the reports of Obama's visit came together

First it was the Capital Region, then we narrowed it down to Malta and eventually it became clear that President Barack Obama's trip to the area would be hosted by the Albany NanoCollege. Here's how we learned about all of the developments at The Daily Gazette.

Thursday, 12:36 p.m.: Received a call from a source, while I was in the bathroom, that Obama would be coming to the "Capital Region" early next week for a speech on the "economy." Needed a second independent confirmation, per our sourcing policy, before we could run with this.

12:42 p.m.: A national politics source is unfamiliar with the news

12:46 - 12:52 p.m.: A source confirms the information from the first source.

We're ready to run, but Assignment Editor Miles Reed is on the phone with another source who offers up two new details, a specific destination (GlobalFoundries) and a day (Tuesday). Call back the second source, who confirms these details.

1:04 p.m.: The Daily Gazette tweets the news of the president's trip and has a web update posted. We are the first to break the news.

1:30 - 1:34 p.m.: Multiple sources confirm that the trip is an "official visit," and we tweak our story.

2:17 p.m.: A White House source confirms the trip is for Malta and promises more details by the close of business on Friday. GlobalFoundries is not returning calls

4:30 p.m.: Reps. Chris Gibson and Paul Tonko host a press conference confirming publicly that Obama is heading to GLobalFoundries. Company officials have not responded to multiple inquiries at this time and would not make any noise until ....

FRIDAY
12:03 p.m.: A GlobalFoundries spokeswoman says in an email, "President Obama will be visiting Fab 8 on Tuesday, May 8th. We are working with the President’s team on the visit and The White House will release additional information soon."

3:49 p.m.: CBS 6 has posted that Obama's trip is now headed to the NanoCollege. One of our sources from Thursday confirms this, but the other two sources are only aware that plans might be changed. We don't publish anything yet.

4:58 p.m.: A source sends us the White House travel advisory, which says the trip is set for the NanoCollege and cites "logistical reasons" for the change of plans. We post the news online.

5:29 p.m.: We receive the travel advisory from the White House.

5:45 p.m.: The White House sends out the itinerary for trip.

7:02 p.m.: GlobalFoundries sends out its first on-the-record statement. It also cites logistics for the change in venue.

7:05 p.m.: A GlobalFoundries Fab 8 spokesman explains the reason for no earlier comments: "These trips always have a lot of changes and the plan is never really final until it actually happens." He doesn't respond to follow-up questions.

Around 8:20, my story on Obama's new destination is done.

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