Category: KTVZ

Sparkling snow and Christmas cheer

A musing on Christmas Day of how things really aren’t all that bad – and a prayer it’ll stay that way.

I really don’t mind shoveling – it’s some of the best exercise I get! And I’m getting a lot of it lately – we have to be at, oh, 1-2 feet of snow in past 2-3 weeks, which you just knew was gonna happen after a too-warm Christmas parade.

Despite the challenges at work and my wife’s challenges in finding work, I and Deb have lots to be thankful for this year. For her, the move from W. Virginia to Bend by her older sister Diane was the biggest present of all. And I’ve got to admit, she can make chocolate goodies almost as good as Deb’s. (Hmm, navigating a safe way to put things;-)

Anyway, I think anyone who has a good job after the travails of the last half of 2008 has to be mighty thankful – and I am. I’m also thankful for my online friends, and those who come to KTVZ.COM without intentions of stirring up trouble but engaging in civil, often lively conversation. I try not to dwell too much on those who only make accusations and stir up trouble. I resolve in ’09 to spend even less time trying to defend myself/our station to those who clearly are just picking fights. If their comments are out of line, they are gone. If not, I’ll try harder to bite my tongue and let everyone else have their say, as a good moderator does. (I’ll never ignore a question that isn’t a putdown in disguise, though;-)

Oh, the title. Yes, when I was shoveling the driveway, in today’s blue-sky sunshine, the snow was just so … sparkling. Desperate me, I took it as a sign that just maybe, things will get better in 2009, and that the doomsayers will be as wrong as they were when they kept predicting doom earlier and it didn’t happen. We have mighty challenges, but – you can call be naive – if we just put our minds to it, I think we can head off Depression 2.0. I pray so.

Meanwhile, I might not be able to convince the powers that be that we should give over 2-3 minutes of airtime to just showing the gorgeous beauty of a snow-flocked High Desert when the clouds part on a blue-sky day, but … don’t let it pass you by. While you’re shoveling, rushing about or driving with fingers clenched on the steering wheel, watching for the yahoos going too fast who could slam into you … be sure to look up and around some times. The world is gorgeous when it’s snow-covered like this – don’t miss out!

And Merry Christmas to all of you. Here’s to a great ’09!

I love a parade (but my feet hurt)

Wow, what a warm Bend Christmas Parade! At nearly 60 degrees when we turned the corner from Newport to Wall Street, so likely a record.

As I told folks along the way – when I wasn’t waving or wielding a video camera to record Christmas greetings from the crowd – we’ve had colder 4th of July Pet Parades than we were today.

And we have. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. It was nice to still feel my feet and toes when it was over. But I still need new comfy hiking shoes, the old ones had me limping home.

Here’s the whole NewsChannel 21 gang before the parade began, on a “sparkling day” that even Bob Shaw would find hard to top;

Hail Hail, the gang's all here! In our spiffy new NewsChannel 21 attire
Hail Hail, the gang's all here! In our spiffy new NewsChannel 21 attire

So I hope you all had a swell Saturday too, full of lots of ups and few if any downs. I started the day writing about a truly nasty crash on the Bend Parkway that killed two young people. No doubt it was an awful, dark Saturday for those two families, no matter how warm and bright the day.

So it’s yet another time to count your blessings.

Hidden treats and tricky touchy topics

First of all, I just wrote a piece that I hope to share on-air – er, on-Web video – about the parts of KTVZ.COM that just don’t get the attention they deserve, because they’re not locally produced.

Of course, folks go to the Website for local news, but have you ever just happened to click on the part marked Lifestyle, off to the right in the Navigation links? Just the Halloween page alone has recipes, safety tips, videos on how to make great kids’ costumes without sewing – the works! And there’s tons of content on every topic imaginable, from technology and money to health, family life etc. Give it a try once in a while!

Okay, then there’s the heavier topic I may/may not do a video piece on, depending on whether I want steam coming out of my ears for all to see.

We have quite the questioning group in our article-comment community – some are the typical armchair quarterbacks you might expect, but some try to put the thumbscrews to ME over why we didnt report this or that, or didn’t know this or that that the cops aren’t telling us, etc.

It gets pretty maddening. So let me make some points.

Other than victims’ names – if they aren’t hurt, we usually leave that out – I use just about EVERYTHING police tell us in news releases, in our online stories. And quite often, more, because there are inevitable ‘holes’ in releases that I try to fill, some more obvious than others (“Captain, when it says ‘vehicle’ – are we talking a car, motorcycle, SUV? And when it says ‘residence,’ do you mean apartment, duplex, mobile home?”

Stuff like that.

But quite often, police don’t include some information in a release because they don’t want to hinder their investigation by revealing too much. Most, I presume, of our online comment-posters realize that, but some get all incensed and claim we or they (or both of us!) are “covering up.” It makes me as mad as the ones who say we “slant” stories in order to make them more exciting. BS. But they have a right to their opinion.

I enjoy some decent head-scratching questions about what “REALLY happened” in this or that notorious crime. But I get heartburn when I see folks claiming to know “the real facts” and throwing them out there AS facts. How do we know Mr. or Ms. Anonymous isn’t just trying to muddy the water and mess up what police and the courts are trying to do?

It’s not as easy a cut-or-dried issue as others where it’s clear where the line is and what goes over it and needs to be deleted (remember, I can’t EDIT postings, only let them be or toss them out – the system doesn’t allow me to edit them, which is good, because then I’D assume liability. No thanks.)

There have been a few folks who’ve called for my head on a platter, claiming the postings – which I admit do get pretty wild, and insensitive at times – tarnishes the station’s reputation. Those daggers thrown at me don’t bother me too much, because I work for an organization that has totally supported our efforts to build dialogue on the news we report. They see the pluses that no doubt have the inevitable minuses, too.

No, what makes me nervous is the threat some of our anonymous postings pose to people’s reputations or ongoing criminal cases. In other words, I fear a lawyer at the door, with a tort claim or subpoena. After all, one doesn’t have to WIN a lawsuit to create an unholy nightmare for the recipient.

So that’s why I often plead, even beg, folks to THINK before they type, and think AGAIN before they hit the ‘submit comment’ button. If they value our exercise in community dialogue, and don’t want to see it vanish, they need to think of the impact of their words, intentional or otherwise. I’ve had to laugh at some postings that rip apart the claims of a crime victim or someone involved in a case, then add at the end, “My prayers to the family” or somesuch. With such comments posted like that, they’re going to NEED those prayers.

I think ulterior motives are boundless in such troubling postings. I have no doubt that I’ve failed at times to be completely equal in deciding when to delete a post for violating Terms of Service – depending on how big the avalanche of disturbing posts, how scared I am at the particular moment, etc. I’m human, and don’t always react to the same things the same way.

But I try. And I tell some folks, “You think those are bad? You didn’t see the ones I DELETED.”

Ugh. Anyway, enough venting for one night. Y’all have a great week!

More of me, less of me

I must apologize for not posting here more often, nor for doing the 2x-weekly video pieces I’d done with frightening regularity for so long.

I’ve been busy. Oy. But with good things, new things!

Please Check out the Election Links page on KTVZ.COM’s Decision 2008 site, when you have a sec. I’ll be adding more links before the ballots are mailed next Friday (and no doubt even more as the election approaches). A great way to find out what’s being said online about measures and candidates, well after the Voters’ Pamphlet is printed and the ads are done.

Also check out Prep Sports Nation, linked off our home page and High School Hits page. It’s sort of a Facebook/social network deal, for local prep sports athletes and fans. You can post videos and photos, connect with friends online, etc.

The other big chore of late has been arguing with/debating/defending our coverage of the 16-year-old now charged with murder in the samurai sword slaying of his mother’s boyfriend. Three stories, close to 250 comments, and it’s enlightening and frightening to see how many people claim to have knowledge and are laying it all out there, hang the consequences in terms of a fair trial etc.  Fascinating, in its own way.

I’ve also spent quite a bit of time yakking at Newsvine, where the debate over vraious conspiracy theories, fueled by the economic crisis, is only topped by the shrill debate over the presidential race. At least THAT will be over soon;-)

So I’ll try to get back to some regularity, at least in online posting. Oh, by the way, if you feel tempted to pass along that e-mail which made the rounds in recent weeks on the ‘We Deserve it’ Dividend, please read this first. Ah, Snopes, worth every penny we don’t pay for it. Always a good place to check before passing on what sounds good, but you’re not quite sure.

‘Building a Culture of Dialogue’

I spent four very interesting hours Saturday with all three Central Oregon district attorneys, defense lawyers, public defenders, police, several of us media types – all talking off the record.

But it’s VERY ironic that I write up some of the themes of that talk after probably the most overt, posted lawsuit threat in our many months of online article comment postings.

‘Building a Culture of Dialogue’ was the topic of the gathering, arranged by the Oregon Bar Press Broadcasters Council.

Folks gave up a big part of their Saturday for a free bag lunch and a chance to not just talk, but listen to each other as we discussed a few ‘ripped from the headlines’ scenarios that have dealt with the issue of a free press and how that role can cause issues for those seeking to assure a fair trial.

The justice system has changed little over the decades, as technological and cultural shifts have changed, greatly, what a prospective juror might hear or read, and from who or where. Imagine if bloggers, for example, or anonymous article postings existed back when our justice system was created. It’s not a perfect system, but how can it evolve and cope with those issues?

That wasn’t the topic of Saturday’s session, really. But things like that did come up – imagine, for example, a DA sending an e-mail declining to confirm or deny a juicy rumor, but inadvertently – one must presume inadvertently – including some damning information below the e-mail, or in an attachment.

Can the reporter then report that information? Use it to ask questions/gather more info? Confront the DA, threaten to use it unless he/she provides some on-the-record info on an ongoing investigation?

Reporters have gone to jail for refusing to disclose their sources. Local media don’t print info from anonymous sources, unless they can get an on-the-record corrobration.

I’ve learned to live with and have a strong defense against the whole notion that the media only reports things “because it sells papers” (or TV commercials). I know we report what is considered news, and yes, we have to make a profit to survive.

But I am just as uneasy as many a defense lawyer about how days, weeks, months, sometimes even years of reports about a heinous crime can make their job incredibly difficult, even with all the “alleged” and “innocent until proven guilty” provisos that we include, for our own legal protection as much as anything else.

Finding actual justice after the “court of public opinion” has made up its collective mind is only getting harder in an age when Website can give you a person’s criminal history in an instant, and where increasingly, opinions are shared as thinly-veiled, so-called “facts.”

Small town or large, reporters and editors are often friends, of a sort, with their sources, with people who make news, and with people in the justice system. Wearing the right hat at the right time, and knowing how to do one’s job and not rupture those relationships is one of the struggles reporters and editors face all the time. I’ve said before, “I don’t mind making an official mad for the right reason” is a glib quip that tries to put a light face on it.

But of course, when a source tells us something juicy, we have to “consider the source,” literally – how do they stand to gain, if the tip is true and the info comes to light?

We will never convince some – make that many – people that we strive to get the facts right and that we really wouldn’t run over our own grandmother for a juicy story. One thing I try to do in our article-comment system is explain – sure, defend, too, but mainly explain – how we human-being reporters and photographers and our bosses do what we do, and why.

Because if news is a conversation, we all have to listen as much as we talk. It’s that easy – and that hard.

Godspeed, Big Easy

I moved to New Orleans when I was 9, lived there for close to a year – the year of Hurricane Betsy, in 1965.

Wild times. We spent a wind-howling night in a second-floor apartment, then returned to our mobile home, which had floated during the storm, apparently, and came down almost on its blocks. My stepmother was scared to open the door – bone dry, only the air conditioner underneath was ruined.

I remember no power, Sterno for cooking, vienna sausages to eat. Ugh. (That was also the year my stepmother had to go to a notary public to swear out an affidavit that I and my two older brothers – having just moved from Philadelphia – were white. Segregation time and all that.

Anyway, I only lived there for one Mardi Gras, remember looking through the windows at the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on Bourbon Street, and… well, I sure hope things go well in the next 12 to 24 hours.

You might remember I’ve been pining for WorldNow to add forum/photo album features to our Website. Well, Hurricane Gustav has prompted creation of a nationwide message board, available to all their stations, and while it isn’t the busiest place in the world, I’ve weighed in, and I do like the look, and hope we can create my dreamed-of High Desert Forum some time, using that software.

Like babysitting the article comments isn’t fun enough, at times;-) But it WAS the top-viewed item at KTVZ.COM in August, topping any individual news story. Some people are offended by what some posters say, but … it is a thriving community and I’m fascinated by it. Many nice folks there, too. Please join in!

Reality can be ugly

A lady named ‘Michelle’ just posted to an article on KTVZ.COM: “It is really disgusting that the family of the person in this vehicle is forced to look at this. I wish the media had an ounce of courtesy, you can give the news with out these type of pictures!!”

Ah, Michelle, life – and death – can be really ‘digusting’ at times. But maybe, just MAYBE, a large photo of a violent crash will make someone stop and think before they put pedal to the metal and try to pass someone on a busy two-lane highway.

We’ll never know. But we can hope.

Video, vexing and victorious: Olympics, CNN

Weren’t those Olympic opening ceremonies amazing? I sure thought so – YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary). Got to watch on my sister-in-law Diane’s new flat/wide-screen TV and … that surely helped make them truly awesome, to use a much-overused term of the day.

And there’s a comfortable familiarity to the way our network, NBC, covers the games – the great John Williams music, Bob Costas at ease talking to President Bush or Bela Karolyi, etc.

Before I dive into the unfortunate part of this message, let me point to a nice new addition to our Website – CNN videos, a frequently updated selection available right below the video player, in what’s known as a ‘widget’ – something added to our and our sister stations’ Websites. Click one, and the screen darkens a bit and the pop-up viewer plays the piece in wide-screen format (something we intend to move to for our own online videos in coming months, by the way).

The best thing about the CNN video addition – at least, to my work-addled eyes – is that much like our wide variety of AP news, it’s automated, which means it’s fresh and up to date, 24 hours a day, days and nights and weekends. If we can get the same thing at some point from MSNBC, then the only manual posting I’ll need to do will be our local video content. Yay!

But, alas, things aren’t going quite so swimmingly for Central Oregonians wanting to watch live streaming video or other “enhanced” video coverage of the Beijing Olympics.

I’m going to try to word this carefully here, because I know just enough to be dangerous, but basically it boils down to the fact that NBC wants to partner (read: contract) with local “TV providers,” on providing not just all that extra online video – 2,000 hours worth at the Olympics – but also on-air via the cable systems, with Video on Demand, special Olympics channels, etc. And they want to extend those contracts through the 2012 Olympics.

But there’s this big umbrella cable-operators organization that wants to instead negotiate a deal for everyone. So while NBC-Universal has been trying to work out deals with individual cable operators, some want to wait for the big package, national agreement. And those, alas, at this time include our very own BendBroadband.

I learned that the eve of the Olympics, as I wrote my Friday piece, fired up the fancy Microsoft Silverlight-powered NBC Olympics player, and hit… a message, asking for my ZIP code and which “TV provider” I have. I said BendBroadband, and it said, “We’re sorry,” and explained basically what I just explained above.

I got, um, a bit upset. Fired off some notes, both to NBC folks I know and on Websites like Lost Remote, asking what the heck was going on? I heard today – on a Sunday! – from an NBC-Universal VP who explained what I’ve said and agreed it wouldn’t hurt for folks to make their cable provider aware of their… dissatisfaction with paying for that great speedy cable-modem service, and then being unable to view one of the most unprecedented offerings of Web content ever seen, because of a contract squabble.

He said they are continuing to negotiate, and hope to get the issue resolved beore the Olympics ends.

I sure hope so. In the meantime, I’m not sure that fibbing about your “TV provider” works – I have gingerly tried, and given up. There’s still lots of NBCOlympics.com material to enjoy, including some video, if a bit… delayed. But the four-screen window of live events, etc. has to wait for the negotiators to negotiate.

(By the way, we’re not alone in this mess – I was told today the uncovered areas include about 3 MILLION customers, and MediaWeek has reported on Cablevision folks in the Northeast stuck in the same boat we are.)

Just wanted you to know it’s not KTVZ’s doing or fault, any more than the 15-hour delay to prime time of certain marquee sports coverage (and the Opening/Closing Ceremonies, etc.) I can understand NBC driving folks to the TV, even in these Net-enabled times, because… hey, they spent quite a bundle on the TV rights, and then charged quite a bundle for the commercials, so… like I always say, “Information wants to be free, but I want a raise.”

But to promote these 2,000 hours of online streaming video, and then throw a caveat/asterisk/roadblock in like this is, well, more than a bit bothersome.

I won’t put BendBroadband’s link/phone number here, but chances are, you know them already. Maybe you can help convince their powers that be that we want and deserve that live streaming video, and we do promise to watch the TV too. I believe the two are complementary, not robbing each other of viewers.

UPDATE: I should have known, my pal Jake over at UtterlyBoring wrote about the Olympics video issue back on Thursday and suggested the work-around of using another ZIP code and provider to see the stuff. Why we should have to fib to see the added video, sigh…

How to say the things unsaid

So we keep hearing from people insisting that we, the press, MUST tell them why a local man, somewhat prominent, died.

We have heard, UNofficially, that It was suicide. Whatever the cause, unless we were to get a police release on the matter, we wouldn’t report it – and quite possibly, even if we did get official word, we still wouldn’t.

 We as a rule don’t report suicides, unless they are of an elected official, someone very prominent, or happen in a very public place or fashion (such as triggering a widespread search, etc.)

Some understand totally. Others are frustrated that we don’t report every tragic private thing that happens, even if it would pain a family grievously to no positive purpose. Will we try to find a way to tackle the topic of suicide, or of depression (easier), in these tough times? Yes. But not by dragging anyone in pain into the spotlight. Some believe that’s they “have a right” to know everything and anything, and we have a “duty” to tell them. Bull.

It’s like the ones who whine – yes, I use that word purposely – and call our deletion of their comments on the Website – the ones with unsubstantiated criminal allegations, unfounded rumors or foul language – “censorship,” and a denial of their “free speech” rights.

Double-bull. There are SO many places on the Web – craigslist rants and raves, for one – where anyone can say anything, under cloak of anonymity, to get their jollies. Go there. Please. Let us try to have a civil conversation about issues that matter, not flames and “you’re stupid!” and 5th-grade temper tantrums.

Please.

Oh, and about suicide – one of the few “Leave it to Barney” pieces I’ve written and been unable to do happened to include this fact – my mother jumped off a building and killed herself when I was 9 years old. (I seem to recall I was doing the piece after a story that cited statistics to show there are FAR more suicides than homicides in Oregon, and yet, we hear little about them, because … it is the ultimate taboo.)

Over years of online and face-to-face chats, I know that my revelation about my mother is the ultimate conversation stopper, because suicide is THE ultimate taboo. Better to talk of evil child abuse than suicide – who to get angry at? The loved one, colleague, etc. is gone, usually leaving only pain and “why?”s behind.

My usual pick-me-up after dropping that bomb is to say, “So I could be a LOT more screwed up than I am.” The laughter dissolves the awkward silence, and life goes on.

Other things that don’t fit into the little LITB on-air segment include the fact that, when I and my two older brothers moved to New Orleans from Philadelphia, after our mother’s suicide, to live with our dad and stepmother, she had to go to a notary public and swear out an affidavit that we were white.

Remember, this was 1965, in Louisana, no doubt going through the desegregation roiling tide. But still… we were, and are, about as “white” as they come. Not so long ago, either.

So please, come read our news articles, and then post comments with interesting points about the important issues they raise and your views about them. Help us drown out the noise with some strong signals. I’d appreciate it, and I think we’ll all be better for it. Otherwise, this experiment just may end one day.

Thanks.

117K page-view day!

Busiest I think in KTVZ.COM history!

Nope, not that tragic plane crash with the dramatic photos that perhaps I should have “locked up” with the kind sender, or something. And no, not a wildfire or other dramatic development.

It was the 5-day-old story of the Redmond woman with a 140-pound tumor. Picked up by MSNBC, AOL, etc. And CNN’s pickup of the story who believes the guy who found her lost dog, sold it on craigslist.

Viral Web, it’s a great thing. Catching the virus isn’t easy, but when you do….;-)