All in a Day's Drive Darn School Bus

On the way back from gathering the newest video and information about Sunday's Carthage Shootings, Nicole Ferguson and I were face with a challenge that many people face if they're anywhere on the road in the early afternoon....a school bus...and this school bus stopped 4 times...in a quarter mile.

I was beginning to worry that we might not make it back to the station in time for our six o'clock story slot. But the bus took the next left and we were good to go.

It's a good thing. We didn't leave Carthage until after 3 o'clock because of all the hustling we had to do just to flesh out a story in the first place. Being day 3 after the fact, most of the nuts and bolts information has been said. The key players who can or will talk have been talked to and the rest of the people who may have something to do with the case won't or can't talk.

Take the 911 operator who took the calls from the nursing home. She handled herself so camly that we wanted to give her 15 seconds of fame. Her bosses said no.

And the ex-wife of the the gunman, she had given interviews in previous days, but she said one of the other news crew had ambushed her for that interview and as nice as she was and as nice as Nicole could be, the former Mrs. Stewart declined our request for 2 minutes of face time.

A neighbor who knew Robert Stewart 10 years ago reluctantly went on the record for us and that gave us a basis for a story but we thought we could do a little better.

When we got back to town from Stewart's old neighborhood we noticed white ribbons popping up all over the place. A quick step into one of the businesses and we soon discovered that the local florist was making ribbons and giving them out all over town.

A quick glance across the street and, believe it or not, there she was. We followed her around for about 20 minutes as she popped in on businesses and hung more ribbons. Now we had a story. Something a little different and a nice way to wrap up this 3rd day of coverage.

Deal or Dud - Strap Perfect

You know, some stories are just plain fun to shoot. Take our consumer franchise 'Deal or Dud' for instance.

This week's Deal or Dud - Strap Perfect was one of the more interesting...ahem...visually appealing.....and fun to shoot segments.

Deal or Dud Lady, Melissa Painter and I started our shoot in our studio with Creative Services Producer Jeff Fabrizio as our "still photographer" so we could shoot our model Wendy in her natural enviroment.

From the studio we went to a clothing store where a stylist met us to try out the Strap Perfect under several different outfits. Of course...I didn't get pictures in the other settings...you'll have to watch the video for that.

After the clothing store we headed off to see how comfy the Strap Perfect would be over time...during a workout. We went to Planet Fitness and let Wendy jog on a treadmill for 15 minutes to see of the piece would aggravate her.

Today I spent 9 hours going through video, making edits, finding music and re-adjusting scripts. All so you, the viewer, can enjoy, just as much as I did, our Emmy Nominated Deal or Dud segments...especially this one.

Watch the Story Here

Sat Truck Crash on Black Ice

A Salt Lake City TV Station's satellite truck went for a wild ride when the driver hit a patch of black ice...

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Frankensticks Miller

Remember Frankensticks?



It's moved on to a new home.



I now have Miller. Solo, that is.



I carbon fiber beauty and I don't think it weighs but about 8 pounds.

Martinsville Ride Along

I had to go up to Martinsville Speedway on Tuesday for a Raybestos Brakes press conference about new brake parts the NASCAR guys will be using for the first time at Martinsville.

As I arrived at the track I took my news truck around the track to get into the pits.

But the best part was the ride along with NASCAR Rookie of the Year for 2008, Regan Smith. Smith took me out in the Toyota Camry pace car for some hot laps - as hot as a street car can take you anyway - and I captured it all on video...



That makes my video of leaving the track in my news truck look tame...

The Real ThingNCAA Cover Up

Remember in the 80s when New Coke came out and people boycotted and clamored for 'The Real Thing'.

Well the NCAA Tournament is coming to town again and they're bringing the 'Cover Up' with them. You know...they have to cover up any advertising in the arena, including all those Pepsi ads on the cupholders on all 10,000 some odd seats.

Both my station and our CBS competitor brought the "New Cover Up" to area viewers tonight at 10 and 11 but I'm here to tell you...nothing's better than 'The Original'...'The Real Thing'...the Emmy Award winning - "NCAA Cover Up"

But you decide if you wish...When the 2 new versions from WGHP and WFMY are online I'll post 'em here...

WGHP -



WFMYs version...I took away the EMBED because there was no way to keep it from rolling...STUPID -

And Now...enjoy 'The Real Thing' - ;-0

"Picking Cotton"

In the part of the state where I grew up that's something that happens every summer on the sun baked fields of Eastern North Carolina.

But now it's the title of a book and the subject of a 2 part series that I finished editing today and aired on our 10 o'clock news.

Jennifer Thompson was brutally raped in her Burlington, NC home in July 1984. Through her recolection, a composite sketch and a couple of police lineups she picked Ronald Cotton as her assailant. She was wrong.



Ronald spent 11 years in prison before DNA evidence and a chance prison yard encounter with the real rapist set him free.

Jennifer and Ron met each other some time after he was released...and now they are great friends...and they both take up the cause of helping those who are falsely accused.

Here is the 2 part Buckley Report - Picking Cotton...

Social Networking for Employment Twittering Your Way to a Job

Sometimes the backstory on a story is better than the story itself. The story I produced today is in the embed below. I think it's pretty good but how it came to be is pretty entertaining too.

Friday our Web Producer Jason (@jerseyfreeze on Twitter) pitched a story about how people are using Social Networking to help find jobs for themselves. I was given the task of making this idea a TV story so I immediately turned to my Twitter and Facebook accounts looking for ideas.

At about the same time Greensboro Realtor Casey Durango (@CaseyDurango on Twitter) Retweeted (reposted) a Tweet (<140 character message on Twitter) from Jennifer Ruggiero (@jruggiero on Twitter) that she was looking for a new job.

Then, as happens in the news business, my story changed.

The bosses directed me to try to get into a naturalization ceremony at the Federal Courthouse. Well they don't let cameras in the Federal Courthouse so as I waited for them to call me back I added Jennifer to my Twitter Friends and tentatively set up a shoot with her at a time to be determined.

The Feds decided to let me into the courthouse for the ceremony so I planned with Jennifer to meet on Monday.

Then more news altered my plans. A winter weather system dumped 4-6 inches of snow on North Carolina paralyzing putting us into weather coverage mode.

I rescheduled with Jennifer and finally arrived at her place at 1030 Tuesday morning. I had also put in calls with the local Universities to find a business expert to speak about using the internet to network for jobs.

Without a call back by the time I was interviewing Jennifer I was pleased when she announce mid-interview that she knew someone who had successfully hired people based on Twitter networking. And that person...was one of the newer followers on my Twitter List. (WOW)

So she called Scott Brewster (@jrmozart on Twitter) and we set up an interview for just after lunch.

After I finished up shooting the interviews and corresponding cover video I made my way back to the station to transcribe the video, write the story, and borrow the voice of our nightside reporter Angela Rodriguez.

Of course the edit process was less than fun when the PC decided to burp, chuckle and freeze. I had no sooner pushed the send button to transfer my finished edit to the playback server when Neill and Julie were introducing a story they didn't even think was done.

Snow Day 2009 - Pictures

I never take as many pictures as I should, usually because I'm focused on shooting video of whatever it is that I should also take pictures of.



Anyway, this was the backyard. My wife measured 5.5 inches of snow.



After grabbing just enough video for the noon show I drove to the station.









After a day of driving around, shooting video, writing and editing my story (see previous entry) I jumped back in the truck for one more shoot for sports. Is it just me or does my truck seem to have grown teeth-sicles.



By the time I got home the evidence of the wife and kids' hard day at home was plain to see.

Snow Day 2009 Gravity - A Kid's Best Friend

I always try to get up a litle earlier than normal on a snow day to get a jump on the action. I got up today, warmed up the news car, got enough video for the noon news and drove in. I kind of figured the bosses would want a feature type of story from me today.

As Lenslinger would attest, working primarily alone is the perfect way to steer clear of lead stories. (Not always - did this 2 weeks back as the 6PM LEAD)

But today I did draw the feature pick of the day....kids playing in the snow....and since this was the first MAJOR snowfall in almost 5 years some of those kids haven't ever seen a snow worth playing in.

Now they have.

Snow Day 2009 - A NC Blizzard (sarcasm)

On my way back from Raleigh today in the heavy rain that has now turned to snow, I was listening to the NASCAR race from Sunny LasVegas when one of the PRN radio announcers who call NC home mentioned the impending winter weather. He jokingly called it "the Blizzard of 2009, that's what you call 2 inches of snow in North Carolina."



To me, that was funny, if only because it's true. I'm from here, but I don't fret the snow. Maybe one day I'll post video I have from when I was 14 and we'd pile into the family car during a snowstorm and drive around looking at the snowy sights.



My dad was a trucker and he could navigate the streets with care and ease. That probably set me in a perfect position to be a News Photographer because now when it snows, not only do I want to get out and see what's happening, I'm expected to.



So I'm giddy that we're getting some overdue snow. It's been since 2004 that we've had a really good "Blizzard". And this still may not be it. It's expected to add up to 7 inches in spots and we've already got 2 or so.



I'm gonna get some sleep so I can get out early.

Made in North Carolina Rockwell Casket Company

One of the more popular franchise series at my station is 'Made in North Carolina' Like the name implies the series highlights companies in North Carolina that make thing.

Simple enough. Of course, for the better part of a year now we've been doing this segment weekly.

I wonder how long we can keep this up...within a day's round trip too....maybe we should call it...made in the Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point TV market. Hmmm.

I digress.

In the litle town of Rockwell in Rowan County they've been making caskets since just a few years after the railroad laid the last tie in 1890.

So, after a year of 'Made in North Carolina's'...here's my first...shot sans reporter...written...again...sans reporter...voiced...by Chad Tucker...an eloquent baritone.

The Judge A Falconer

I've always liked Hawks and other birds of prey so I became curious when Michael "the mangler" McQueen dropped a few random hints on Twitter about his secret project in Rockingham County. I was so curious I almost acted on it but I have been patient.

Now that I've seen it...I must copy. Is that so bad? I mean...how's that old saying go..."Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

Here's Michael's story with the Judge who is also a Falconer.

Deal or Dud - Smooth Away

As far as our Deal or Dud segments go this one's pretty average but it's what aired today that I edited a couple of weeks ago.

I shot another one today....have to edit a third on Thursday.

Hopefully I can find some kind of mojo when I edit that one to put some magic back in 'em. I haven't had a kick ass Deal or Dud in a while.

Exotic Animals; Beware!

Exotic Animals in the United States may soon be invited to go the way of the busted illegal immigrant....deportation.

OK, so that's blowing it out of proportion but that's the gist of a bill (HR 669) that was recently introduced in the US House of Representatives.

The 'Nonnative Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act’ would give the Secretary of the Interior the authority to direct The United States Fish and Wildlife Service to establish a list of banned non-native wildlife.

Of course they would also have to establish a list of allowed non-native animals.

But to pet shop owners the bill is very broad, vague and potentially restrictive to their business.

(and thanks to my station's new website, I bring it to you...freshly embedded)

Snow Day - Inaugruation Day - Cold Day

It snowed today. I didn't take any pictures. Or Video. Instead I was planning to head to a local school and watch the kids watch Roberts and Obama mangle the constitution. Did I mention it snowed?



With my wife's pictures proving that school was OUT it was time for plan B. At first, to get a feature on what Wednesday Newspaper front pages would be like. That story got moved to another crew when their story fell apart.(Apparently their story fell apart due to lack of attendence and the refusal of the organizers to change the TV to our channel instead of our competition who wasn't even there. *SLAP*)



So at 11:25 I was scrambling to find a child care center with more than 4 kids in the place that was willing to let me barge in and mic up a child, a teacher and the TV. And of course as soon as I'm about to roll into the parking lot of the agreeable YMCA I got the spot news call of the day.



A child has fallen throught the ice into a river in Eden. Well, Eden is a 1 hour drive. But the roads were fine by that time so off I went. I got a call on the way that the child was out of the river so I kinda new that there wouldn't be much in the way of video by the time I arrived.



I was pretty much right. The child got out of the river on his own and was fine. Cold but fine. Not much in the way of video. The area where the kid fell in is out of visual sight. It's a place I'd been before for a previous news story about the town wanting to build a park.



I didn't think I was going to get any video until I found and almost hidden access drive to the old shut down railroad. Bingo. I had to walk the planks out to near the middle of the span to get a clean shot but it was worth it. Cold but worth it.



I found out where the kid lived but no one would answer the door. I could hear them moving around inside, even saw the blinds being lowered as I walked up but they didn't answer. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that the 8 year old that fell in and his 6 year old brother were 300 yards from home at a frozen river...ALONE. The Eden Police say they're working on that.

So for inauguration day 08...I drove 125 miles and produced 30 seconds of TV.

Exciting.

US Airways Water Landing

Anyone who wasn't glued to the TV for the coverage of the US Airway's water landing could possibly be classified as a little out of touch. I was in the newsroom watching it on 4 monitors and on the internet Twittering, Googling, and generally searching for information that my help our inner newsroom cause. But I'm like that when it comes to news.



But as much as I pine for a good story I would have hated to be in the scrum today in the 20 degrees. It always seems like some of the biggest stories happen in the most inhospitable conditions.



As the accident coverage was unfolding and I was searching for pictures via Twitter and Flickr I found the above picture pretty quickly and it reminded me of a quote from the movie "Talladega Nights" a few years ago...."If you're not first you're last."

The picture that Janis Krums took from the Ferry Boat that was headed to help passengers was the first up close picture of the plane in the water. He posted it quickly from his IPhone and the picture's populartiy has exploded. It's been on all the national news shows, flickr users have re-posted the photo many many times, his Twitter following has doubled, he's been interviewed by MSNBC and he's apparently sold the photo rights to the AP.



So whether or not there's a better picture out there...Krums is the winner for quick thinking because he was first and who's gonna search through a thousand pages of other picture's now looking for something better.

And the only reason he was able to take that picture was because he jumped on the ferry to see if he could help rescue people in the water.

Movie Time

This looks fun...

Film - The Verb A Motion To Make Standard

Have you ever gotten bent out of shape when someone ask you what you're "filming"?



I ask as I raise my hand in affirmation. Yes, and I almost hate to admit it. For the longest it has been correct to consider our actions to be "taping" our subjects since we were using videotape. (Saying we're are "videoing" something never has really been catchy. )




So I have to ask, what should we call it now? From professional gear down to the consumer level tape cameras are being quickly replaced by XD, P2 and a variety of hard drive or flash capture formats.



I can hear it now....What are you discing? What are you digitizing? What are you flashing? Uhm..no.

So here's what I think....let's go with what the dictionary says.

"Film the verb - to photograph with a motion-picture camera."

It doesn't specify what format...so that would cover the gamet of cameras on the streets today.

And hell, most people already say it like that anyway.

Do I have a Second?

Choose Your News The DEBATE

Tonight the Arkansas Society of Professional Journalists held a debate between KATV's Choose Your News reporter Kristin Fisher and Newspaper Columnist John Brummet.



The debate's origins are in Brummett's recent columns dismissing choose your news as a gimmick. Internet fury grew, the two exchanged online barbs, bloggers jabbed and finally Brummett relented and aggreed to meet with Fisher and debate the pros and cons of this gimmick as a news gathering tool.

The debate lasted just over an hour and was lively, entertaining and funny at times.

Both aggreed that something has to be done to keep the industry relavent and alive.

They disagreed on nomenclature issues and the use of new tools overriding the newsgathering process and integrity.

Here's my LIVE BLOG NOTES -

John finds the word twitter funny.

John gets blog alerts when people blog about him. Audience laughs.

John says you can't choose your news.

He says people are choosing their features, follow ups etc. Implies that those aren't news. News can't be predicted it happens and you cover it.

John says it's a gimmick, gimmicks never work.

John says cover the news, use the tools to cover the news, but kill the gimmicks.

Kristin says the quality of her stories are the same with the Choose your news format. She's giving the viewer a choice.

Kristin says John chooses his news by having google alerts. Says they are taking the user interactivy one step further.

Kristin says get over semantics....Choose Your News is just a title and it rhymes so it works.

John is taking furiouse notes for his rebuttle.

Kristin is looking forward to putting this experiment to the breaking news test.

John rebuts that he chooses what he consumes doesn't choose what people produce for him.

John again says, using remote control analogy, that it only allows him to choose what he recieves not what they produce at the various outlets.

John says don't trivialize the news just cover it.

Kristin answering why theh viewers can't just have all of the stories instead of choosing.

Says the obviouse...we only have so many reporters.

Kristin says Choose your news is providing them a surplus of story ideas.

John says Kristin shouldn't lobby for people to choose certain stories in her tweets.

Kristin hates fluff and hard news and is going to lobby for the hard news.

She says she should let her personality come out and give her take on what story she should cover.

She likes the transparancy of having a live webcam watching her all day.

She says nobody can beat TV at Breaking News. That each medium needs to cater to it's niches even on the web.

Sometimes wants to turn off the webcam.

They will mute the mic from time to time to make source calls or other sensitve times.

John says the webcam on her is a bit creepy.

John says when this is the sum essance of what you're doing then it outserves the purpose of the news gathering.

John says we're cannibalizing oursevles. (attributes to someone else) Instead of focusing on our job of delivering news.

John says the multitasking of writing his collumns and blogging was too much to do justice to his column.

John says things have to change in the news biz for us to survive.

John says he is willing to work twice as hard to make it work.

John says the future is in niche pubs and cross pollenation.

Kristin says the real debat here is the one between TV and Print that's been going on for years. Says there are certainly differences in how print and TV cover a given story and the impact is has.

Wishes she had more time for her stories.

She says New Media supplements the big final (classic) product.

Kristin answers that choose your news shouldn't pick the lead story but rather only if it just happened to be a hard story after being picked it could be a lead.

John says it's not the wisest use of talent or space but it's not the end of journalistic integrity.

Oh...lost my stream...it's back...whew.

Kristin says she has human interactivity....laughs from audience.

Kristin says 44% of college grads go online for their news and our medium of TV and Print are dying. We've got to find a way to monetize the internet and make it a place where TV and Print can make money.

John wonders if Choose your News is that or is it a fleeting pointless gimmick(he thinks the latter)....is Kristin going to sit in front of the webcam and grow old on us.

Moderator - What is a journalist?

Kristin - someone who informs you about the news and events in your community or around the world.

John - A person protected by the 1st ammendment, anyone really, who gives information about a news event. No training or licensing neccesary.

questions from the audience...

Question about monetizing the internet wondering if this is driving the numbers...

Kristin doesn't know about that. She talks about having 10000 votes in the last round.

Kristin says that if there's ever breaking news they will postpone the choose your news story in favor of using the tools to cover the bn.

John says if adverisers are drawn there by numbers that he's all good with it....but that nobody's found a way to do that.

He objects to the principal of this way of gathering news and not to the effort of trying to get viewers to in turn get ads.

John says it would be more palletable to him if it was a stand alone self supporting (money) thing.

Kristin says with so many people on the internet then why shouldn't they reach out to them.

John says this trivialzes their newscasts.

Kristin says she may be reaching different people on the web than watch their news. That the younger demographic is on the web...the older on the TV and with some crossover.

John agrees....and that older people in a rural state like AR are tied to their TV and the younger people are online because the TV is nonsense and irrelevant to their lives.

John aggrees that you can pull the demographics from one medium to the other with cross promotion.

John still maintains that the best news is real news and that's what appeals to everyone.

We're over the hour mark

Here it is...the Anne Pressley safety question.

Kristin - I'm never alone. I always have a Photographer with me. I'm in no more danger than any other reporter who puts themselves in the public eye.

She says there are steps she takes to protect her privacy.

She thinks about how much better her web cam would be if Anne were there dancing in the background.

John asks what is the purpose of having her on the webcam typing all day.

She says so people can check in and see what she's doing. That TV News is built upon personalities and that with that she can have a live conversation with the viewers and it makes it personal.

One day that web cam will do something great for breaking news. (the portable one in the cell phone)

John quips that he's going to get a web cam on his desk.

Kristin explaining how choose your news was born....just a passing conversation about the streaming web phone.

John making points about sweeps stunts.

A guy in the audience asking a questions sounds just like one of my station's engineers. Funny!

Kristin says John's columns and all the talk about Choose Your News has definately helped the votes.

Kristin loves to shoot and edit.

She gave up the shooting and editing to take on the demands of all the tweeting, webcaming, and other interactivity.

Moderator to John...what have you gotten out of this....

John - Newspaper columns need buzz and this has given him buzz.

Kristin - Your google alerts are off the charts huh?

John - He has become more aware of the threats to our industry.

John - Still thinks the web cam is creepy and hopes it's full time use is cut.

That's all.