Last week I was able to publish a fairly comprehensive story on the sale of RADIL from the university to a private company.

The news had already happened the previous week – but this news was pretty much regarding the details of the sale and about the company who bought the lab. The goal in this follow up story was to find something new and do some analysis as to why the lab was sold at this time.

The main goal was to provide something new to the reader and not to simply rehash the previous week’s press release story. I looked at previous clips about the lab and discovered it had a somewhat controversial history over the past 10 years. Eventually I came to the conclusion that the lab had truly outgrown the university and it was time to sell it.

To make this kind of conclusion however, I had to talk quite a bit with experts who had experience with the labs history. These people were the ones who directed me towards the conclusion and provided the evidence to back up the claim about the lab.

Another challenge was deciphering all the previous clips and making sure I have all the facts straight about the lab’s history. With a controversial topic like this one, making a false claim would have sure angered some stakeholders. I think I checked everything from the clips about five times throughout the reporting process. Something I wouldn’t have thought of doing at the beginning of the semester.