Tag: KTVZ.COM

As year’s end nears, a different look at our clicks and views

It’s perhaps only fitting in the world of purely pageviews – and Web pageviews at that — that not a single news article makes the top 20, 30, 40 or even 50 in the most-popular list for KTVZ.COM in 2013, courtesy of Google Analytics.

That is a list from the “old-fashioned” dub-dub-W computer-visited Website, which once was the center of the online universe but now shares equal and, in the future, diminishing billing with that increasingly popular computer in your pocket or purse — the smartphone and the tablet, the portable news viewers of the 21st Century. Each platform has its own peculiarities and statistics, and sure we can combine them all.

But for old time’s sake, let’s focus on the Website for a bit of statistical observation.

The home page makes up 10 million of the 25 million page views this year — and that’s only fitting, because while we want you to click through to all that great content, we also went you to know we’re the place to turn to see what’s new — and the front page, of course, is and always will be the place to start. Top Stories, latest Local Alert Weather Webcast and all that.

The Local Alert Weather page is the single most-visited page beyond that, at 1.3 million page views, and the local news page is behind that at 563,000 page views.

Our sports page is not too far behind, No. 5, at 135,000 page views — so there! And the seven-day forecast is sixth, at 131,000 page views. Our Fox Central Oregon page makes the top 10, in No. 9 slot at 112,000 page views.

Slide shows or photo albums — I use the same interchangeably, probably confusing to some, sorry — make up an astounding number of our top-viewed/clicked on pages — logically, as most have dozens of gorgeous views or fun parades, etc, and each click counts..

But for better or worse, in parlor game or … whatever, the top-viewed slide show, by far, is not all those pretty, scenic pictures, but the Deschutes County Parole and Probation “most wanted” list — well, lists, as each update is a separate item — and all told, they take up nine of the top 20 slots!

And then there’s the funny Nos. 12 and 20 — the “page not found” pages — close to 120,000 of the page views end up at a dead end, frightfully sorry (if I’m sounding British, blame the Christmas “Doctor Who” special) — and just behind at 21 is our Fire Alert page. Our Events page also makes the top 25, in No. 24 slot at 47,000 page views.

Crook and Jefferson counties’ most wanted lists also are in the top 30, as are the national news page (No. 29) and some of our seasonal photo albums, plus the ones dedicated to wildfires and wildlife.

Our Pump Patrol page is in the mix at No. 42, our videos page at No. 49, and you have to go No. 51 to find the very first actual news article in the ol’ (non-mobile) Web list, which is…

Ah, but that would be telling! We’ll be talking about top stories of the year in coming days, and while editorial judgment is on equal par with the clicks, there are some interesting things to share on what drew that particular finger-twitch on the mouse or trackpad.

(Update: Oh wait! That was by Page Title — my goodness, not a spreadsheet or database jockey am I, and by actual page the list is quite different! Several news stories in the top group, and we’ll be laying out the year in review soon.)

Merry Christmas! And Happy 2014 to come!

Belated welcome, hearty thanks

(I’m training myself to do Headlines With Words Capped on the Website, but dang it, this is MY blog and I know current style is downstyle headlines;-)

It was a long week, but a fulfilling one, getting the new KTVZ.COM up and running. It was touch-and-go for a bit, due to late problems we’re still addressing, one that delayed getting the new video system (Syndicaster) working. But it works great now – bells and whistles, just like the site itself – and the video looks far better than under the old system/site.

We’re still working out some kinks with things like the weather page, e-mails and the like. Unlike what our poll results show, most e-mails and comments have been positive about the cleaner, faster-loading site, and for that I and my colleagues are very grateful.

It was especially nice to easily be able to compile a slide show of user-submitted Pole Pedal Paddle photos, nice and big, to share with everybody. It’ll be great when the next surprise snowstorm;-), fire or other big local event happens. (I’d already posted a couple slide shows on a ‘burn to learn’ exercise and the National Guard troops’ homecoming.)

But who knew that after a night with too little sleep, the first day of the new site would end with a fiery gas tanker truck crash east of Bend? And then, on Friday, a Facebook post inquiring about sirens in Redmond led to something we hadn’t heard about – a fatal plane crash near the end of a Redmond Airport runway.

These things might not even make the cut on a big-city newscast, but it was big news here, and I got to, for example, learn how to send a breaking-news e-mail in the new system, on the fly, with a kind lady at the Internet Broadcasting (IB) help desk helping me through it.

Got a bit nervous when we dropped from Google News’ radar screen for a day or so, but looks like we’re getting better.

I wrote a long, typically Barney-rambling welcome over on the site, so won’t repeat myself here, other than to offer a hearty thanks to the folks at IB, and at the station, for allowing me to focus on all the little nitpick things I keep bringing up to make a great new site even better.

Back to making the Week 2 list of needs and wants for just that purpose. Have a good week, everybody.

Wow, again too long…

I see young people have immersed in Social Media to point where blogs have lost their buzz (not to be confused w/Google Buzz, which I’m now playing with – I don’t use gmail much, maybe this will get me using it?
Anyway, what a week. Arrived Monday to an empty newsroom – qhickly learned it was because an ODOT building almost NEXT DOOR was burning.
Turned out to allegedly be a troubled resident of the nearby Bethlehem Inn homeless shelter – which to their credit actually notified police a weird guy had been raising red flags, and could be their man. It was.
Contrast that to Friday, when I was asked by Redmond Airport Manager Carrie Novick – and when Carrie asks, you say yes, even senators and congressmen know that – to attend the ribbon cutting for the great big terminal expansion project.
It looks marvelous, even before all the furniture and signs and my fave thing – newsstand – are in place. Do check it out!
Other achievement this week: Finally got the onboarding questionnaire turned in for our new Web platform for KTVZ.COM and sister NPG sites, Internet Broadcasting.
I can’t wait to get started! A cleaner, faster-loading (yay!) Website, building in a better commenting system (probably Disqus) and lots more fun down the road.
But of course, my all-too-rare chance to get out and a) report personally and b) schmooze with old friends, like Wyden press aide-former UPI colleague Tom Towslee – made for a very stressed late afternoon catching up w/the news. Still, it was worth it!
Meanwhile, right now, listening to my fave podcaster – Leo Laporte at http://www.twit.tv – talk about Google Buzz, last weekend’s show.
As tiny as the ‘QuickPress’ window is in WordPress.com, maybe if I just GET here more often, will post more and … someone will find it interesting. I hope;-)

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!

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.

Election season is coming

That’s meant as a joke, as it already seems to have gone along for, oh, 42 years.

A certain weekly paper here scoffed at our lack of local election coverage, including on the Web. Seeing as how the ballots don’t go out for 3-4 weeks, I feel the criticism was a bit…premature.

What we plan for Decision 2008 at KTVZ.COM is as much live streaming video as MSNBC offers up, tons of CNN and NBC video, and a page chock full of links to candidate and measure Websites, election info from counties and parties, etc., as well as a robust calendar of election-related events (forums and the like) and a billboard with lots of unedited announcements from candidates and campaigns of every stripe).

Oh, and a constantly updated stream of political headlines from AP, blogs from Politico.com – lots of fun stuff, some on the site already, much more to come.

I’d promise to post EVERY news release, but you should see how many we’re getting from the Smith and Merkley campaigns alone. I’d never get any news written!

But we’ll definitely ramp up in coming weeks, giving you a place to turn and seek out information galore. And of course, our local election features will include article comments, and those ought to get really interesting. And they’ll also be a big test of my now-stronger efforts to keep the tone civil and to bounce offensive comments that violate the Terms of Service.

Election Night, we’ll scroll the results through the night and take advantage of frequent news breaks in NBC’s presidential election coverage to tell you who’s up, who’s down and what’s what.

It oughta be a blast!;-)

OK, I’m seriously addicted to Newsvine

For some reason, Newsvine didn’t grab me when I tried it last October, after its acquisition by MSNBC.

But now. Wow. I’m a posting, arguing, discussing, debating fool. Is it just as enlightening, yet aggravating as KTVZ.COM’s own article comments? Yep. But with a much wider circle of folks, who “seed” the site with articles from all over on every topic imaginable.

And then… you discuss. It’s that simple. They have wonderful tools to help track multiple article discussion threads. You get your own “column” page where all the comments you’ve posted, articles you’ve seeded etc. are collected.

And it’s a social network – like the comments someone made? Make them a friend, follow what they have to say around the site on other issues!

As I said, I’m hooked. Oy. It tops MSNBC’s article-comment forums, and USA Today’s, and … nah, it doesn’t top ours. But I’d love to use that way of blossoming the comments we do run!

It turns reading the news into a social experience like none other. I love it!

It’s like I read in one of my books recently – somebody took issue with the maxim that “Content is king.”

“Conversation is king,” they said. “Content is just something to talk about.”

Yeppers!;-)

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!

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.