A look at how a local newspaper in Pennsylvania covered Trump's rally and the attempted assassination

When Donald Trump went to Butler to deliver his election message to the state's western supporters, journalists from the local newspaper, the Butler Eagle, were prepared to cover a political rally, but they ended up reporting on a shocking attempted assassination. 

Covering a national event with a small newspaper's resources is a tall order for any newsgroup, and journalists at The Associated Press wondered how the Eagle would manage the reporting and scrutiny. To discover how it all went down at the Eagle, AP photographer Matt Slocum, media reporter David Bauder and video journalist Joe Frederick traveled to Butler to interview the paper's journalists, managers and staff. AP's perspective looks at a tragic event in a small town through the eyes of the local newspaper working to cover it. 

When AP explored the Eagle's newsroom responses, another story came to light. "It revealed not only the news organization’s professionalism but the emotional toll the story was taking on young staffers," AP reports. "One was moved to tears as she recounted how the crowd turned on her after the shooting. But, she said, the story taught her that in being a journalist, she had made the right choice."

AP's approach "enabled them to interlock strong human stories and look at the American local news industry as a whole. Particularly noteworthy was how this story managed the 'ladder of abstraction' and represented a strong crossover story that could appeal to multiple audiences — those looking for political news, local news, media news and simply a human story about the faces behind the journalism," AP reports. "The story offered a compelling on-the-ground tale that also linked it up with the struggles that newspapers and local news are having."

To dig into this coverage, watch the video here.