Category: Uncategorized

20th post, new venue

I’ve made it to ORblogs! It’s a fun place to visit to see what folks are blogging about all over the Beaver State (what a nickname;-)

I’m on ‘stay-cation,’ but I do figure to try out Opera 9.5, released last week, and Firefox 3.0, due out Tuesday. And if we have more fires, whoa nelly, all bets are off;-) I looked again at Ning tonight but it’s just too trendy – I feel KickApps has more meat on its bones and just maybe can be bent to work/look like we want for the online home/forum/message board/blog/upload photo/video thing I’m calling the KTVZ.COMmunity;-) Hopefully we’d draw some regulars with interesting things to say and not just the drive-by article commenters that send a shiver down my spine;-)

Pandora is one music box worth opening

Not sure why they took a bad-luck name – there’s a story there, but Pandora is one fun, free, simple and non-intrusive music player.

A product of the Music Genome Project, you tell it what artists you like, it finds similar ones and creates “stations,” much like Slacker and others of its ilk. But it’s a clean interface, and you sure can’t beat the “TURN IT UP” fidelity of the streaming music, at least on my broadband.

I also love the bio backgrounds on artists, always fun.

I’d been meaning to give Pandora a try – am glad I have, and now heartily endorse it for you, too;-)

Into our living rooms, losses of pain (or ‘Less Stay, More Cation’)

Wow, check this out: http://echuck.newsvine.com/_news/2008/06/13/1571290-in-memoriam-nbc-newsman-tim-russert – such wonderfully written, heartfelt comments on the passing of someone many of us felt we knew, and liked, even though we’d never met him.

I was in Master Control, prepping to record tonight’s ‘Leave it to Barney” (darn that lint roller!;-) when the golf gave way to an NBC News Special Report slide. Then,Tom Brokaw. Then the sad news of Tim Russert’s passing. It was a shock, I’m guessing, to everyone when they heard the news. Surely at our network, in our profession, and to middle-aged males across America who work too hard, get too much stress and too little sleep, and fear the pain that takes us to the Next Stage.

Tonight also marks the start of time away from the newsroom, a whole week, to mark my 25th wedding anniversary to darling Deb. It’s, to use the new term, a ‘Staycation’ – because until my wife finds a job;-/ we can’t afford to go far, much less to the dreamed-of Hawaii. Plus, there’s this beast called KTVZ.COM that always needs feeding, and the folks in the newsroom only know so much about how to do that. My fault, I suppose. I care too much about every word, want to beat back every typo, so…  I can’t let go.

Former station manager Jim DeChant, the Wise Buddha of NewsChannel 21, taught me some good lessons when I arrived a few years back, with only high school and college TV experience. He (and others to be sure), talk of the special power of television to bring people into our living rooms, day and night, to the point where we truly feel we know them (and like them, hopefully), so when we lose them, it’s like a loss in the family.

Those Newsvine tributes show just how true it is. They are almost more tear-inducing than the loss itself. People who don’t know each other and actually never knew Tim Russert, felt they knew him, and with his passing, we shed collective tears. The Internet has that power. So does television. May we use it wisely, and try never to abuse it. It’s too important.

And I’ll do my best to make it less “stay” and more “cation” over the next week. If that means a few less updates of the Website – well, my apologies. Get away from the keyboard, now that the High Desert has finally warmed up. Read a book in Drake Park. Get on that bike. Hug those spouses and kids.

Life’s too short. Who needs another reminder?;-)

Another teen tragedy, alas

Read all about it – and the dozens of comments on it – at http://www.ktvz.com/global/story.asp?s=8388713.

This time, because of a snarky but well-timed criticism of some partial info we got from school district, I had the never-fun task of calling the family – hoping so much a spokesman or friend would answer. Instead, it was the teen’s stepmother, who was relatively gracious, considering what that family is going through, who helped straighten out the info.

We’ve had about 40 comment postings so far – but 25 THOUSAND viewings of the comments. Clearly, these totally unrelated teen-death tragedies have struck a major nerve, and people not only want to speak out but read what others say – good, bad and, yes, ugly. I’m not sure I’m drawing a firm enough line on the personal attacks people feel the need to send out, often protected by the much-abused anonymity, but there have been enough good wishes, thoughtful remarks and cogent discussion that it’s worth the hassle.

I think. 😉

People who think we relish bad news should see how bad I was trembling after that phone call. I offered condolences, I asked if there was anything we could do, I said I can’t imagine what they’re going through – and I can’t. It’s one thing for a beloved football and wrestling star to run away from a police stop and die in a mysterious manner. But for a clearly troubled teen, close to graduation, to flee police, SHOOT AT THEM and eventually take his own life, despite police efforts to end it peacefully – that one hangs just as heavy, if not heavier.

Bad choices. But then come the armchair quarterbacks, the parent-blamers, the police-blamers, the society-blamers, and those who defend against them. It’s almost like a badly choreographed opera – predictable in its sour notes and occasional sweet sounds.

To me, above it all, is the sweet sound of a community getting to weigh in – again, good, bad or ugly. I’d love to set rules of decorum, but that’s like trying to arrange the world to one’s liking.

It’s too messy for that, but with that mess comes all the joy as well. You can’t separate them.

Enough ruminating. Thanks to NHL, it was a longer day at the station, oddly enough, and emotional for me, as well. Hoping for a few calmer days…

 

Story choices and the never-perfect formula

Other day, got an e-mail from a nice lady:

Has there been any news reports on the new Sonic Burger opening in Bend? Just curious about it since the last couple days cars have been lined up down the highway waiting to get into the restaurant. I didn’t see anything about it on your website.

My reply:

Well, no, we haven’t covered the latest restaurant opening frenzy in Bend. The paper had a photo and caption, just adding to the hordes who got the word through word of mouth or passing by. We figured it was pretty well known and didn’t need a “free ad” from us- heck, even read a blogger waxing poetic over their little ice cubes.

Her reply – again, in a tone so much appreciated compared to the nasty, accusatory stuff we all too often get:

I appreciate your reply Barney, but I see it in a completely different way. So here’s an example of how one reader/viewer thinks: 
It’s not just the latest restaurant opening frenzy in Bend; it’s so much more. It’s a traffic congestion story for one. On Wednesday, May 21st, traffic was backed up coming from the North as far back as the jail. It became such an issue that the highway department lit up a big flashing sign warning drivers of a heavy traffic area. Peoples lives and commutes were being effected.
You’re not the paper. Who cares what the paper had; not everyone looks at the paper. Is it your norm to pick and choose stories based on what the paper is doing? Isn’t every single news story you do a “free ad” in one way or another? Does KTVZ support the economy in Bend? What about the jobs that are being provided for by Sonic? 
Who cares if you were criticized for doing a story on Trader Joe’s. Shouldn’t dictate how you handle something now. I believe the majority of us appreciated hearing about a new business opening in that area of Bend. Progress is beautiful. Improvements are wonderful.
People in North Bend and Sisters now have a quality fast food restaurant on “their” end of town. It’s been a long time coming. This is a big deal to us. A piece of land in our town is now bursting with life after years of being vacant and depressed. It’s nice to see improvement there after watching the Tom Tom close and the truck stop shut down. I love that things are happening there again.
Sonic has a really good bacon cheese burger toaster. My son really likes them and wants to go get one right now.
And last but not least…It’s a happy story as opposed to sad or scary…which is primarily what we’re used to hearing. We need more happy, exciting and fun in our lives right now. Times are hard. You’re missing out on all the fun. Let’s hear it for Sonic. Welcome to Bend.

And again, my reply:

…you make all your points very well. One thing I forgot to tell YOU was – I’m NOT the news director and am only one voice in about four (news director, show producers) on what we do/don’t cover. And I win some, lose some. Every day I do a list of 30 or so story ideas, and on good days, roughly a third turn into stories. There’s always hundreds more story ideas than there are time in the show, reporters not already tied up, time conflicts etc.
Yes, the paper influences what stories we do and how we treat them, to some degree. So does radio, our TV competition, etc. We don’t necessarily DO or NOT DO stories based on what others do, but it DOES play a role – as it does for every media outlet.
We sure don’t want to look like we’re chasing the paper (or anyone else’s) tail – some folks think we just rip stories out of the paper and read them – nothing could be further from the truth. Give me two stories of roughly equal importance (a judgment call there!), one that other media outlets have had and the other newly discovered by us, and we’ll always do the latter – we don’t want to look/sound like everyone else.
 This is a worthwhile discussion…”

…and I went on to ask if I could post it here. Haven’t heard back, so I figure it’s safe, leaving out her name (I’ll add it if she’s comfortable with it.)

So, let me add on a few thoughts. Some folks think we should cheer good economic news. Others think we should spend more time on the bad things folks do. Heck, we did what I thought was an innocuous story on the crummy weather heading into the weekend, and … well, here’s the post by someone labeled “Stay positive”:

Can we keep the negative news confined to the TV broadcast please? Why does everyone in the world with an internet connection need to know that we’re having bad weather during the first big weekend of the summer season? What good does that do for the Realtors and tourism-driven businesses?”

That prompted the predictable reaction from other commenters of “what in the world???” – and I have to admit, I even wonder if it was tongue-in-cheek? Surely, no one expects us to tilt our coverage to not tell outsiders the weather isn’t perfect every holiday?

We also had a story recently about a USA Today article that referred in its headline to Bend as “the new Boulder.” The reaction in postings was strong, and predictable – many incredulous that anyone could do a nice write-up about Bend – asking if he’d ever even VISITED the place – and others pointing to the long, familiar list of problems here (housing prices dropping like a rock, not enough well-paying jobs, a city government running short of cash, etc. etc.)

It all reminded me of one of my first stories at The Bulletin, back in 1991. Talked to authors of a book called “50 Fabulous Places to Raise Your Family.”

They started with a list of 250 or so metro areas. They thought they’d have trouble narrowing it to 50 – they had trouble coming up with 50 – and they decided they needed to talk to newcomers, because in just about every city listed, the longer folks had lived there, the more incredulous they were that anyone would ever think that town was a good place to raise a family!

That’s because the longer you live somewhere, the more familiar you are with its shortcomings, the more you take for granted its niceties – or miss what it was like when you arrived (wishing someone had shut the gate behind you).

People in Bend like to think that’s something unique to here. It’s a universal trait. Reminds me also of what a fired city manager told me years ago, after he got the heave-ho after many years in the job: “Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.”

So if you do a positive story about the place you live, you’re a chamber-of-commerce suck-up, a member of the Good Old Boys. If you do a negative one, you’re unfairly attacking, etc. etc. It’s gone from “you can’t please everyone” to “good luck pleasing anyone.”

But still, we keep trying. 😉 What do you think? What if you were a news director – what would be your guiding principles about “free ads,” story selection, etc? Because if nothing else, the Internet has made it possible for everyone to play the role of “news editor,” picking what topics they’re interested in, etc.

Blog and blog and blog again

So here I go, blogging again – I’ve been trying this since before the word “blog” existed, remember Microsoft Publisher, anyone?

 

Anyway, I’ve tried several blog or Web-publishing programs over the years, and want to try this one, too.

I have a better reason to do so this time. As many of you may know, this is also the title of my twice-weekly (Monday and Friday) segments on NewsChannel 21 at 5, in Bend, Oregon.

That’s fun, but I love give and take, and room to, well, be the Babblin’ Barn many know I can be.

I also want a chance to engage in more dialogue with our viewers and Website visitors (I’m very proud of KTVZ.COM) about what I/we do, why, how, etc. Some folks couldn’t care less. Others, I’ve found, are intensely curious about TV journalism, and media in general, and find darn few places to ask questions and get answers. I hope this will become one of them.

(WordPress has given me some funky stuff – for some reason, every time I tried to insert a photo, what it appears to have done is opened a new window with the old post – but no sign of a pic. At one point, that meant I had like SEVEN photos in the one posting! What’s up with that?

Anyway, glad to be here, and hope we can share a little dialogue of the friendly, helpful, interesting kind. I’m looking forward to it.