Fire coverage helps newlywed couple
A fire coinciding with the second day of the State Fair might not have gotten much attention, until we learned it destroyed a newlywed couple’s belongings while they were away on their honeymoon. The drama in that scenario is palpable – tantalizing for newshounds looking for a story peg.
It was also rewarding to be told by the family that our coverage helped to build steam for a benefit to assist the couple’s recovery. (more…)
Busy busy bank robbery
After two cousins robbed a bank in Rome Thursday, things were very busy for the remainder of the workweek. I’m particularly proud of the products we produced, and wanted to save a link to all of it.
On-Call: Hydroplane VO
Last weekend I served as an on-call photographer and was called in during a heavy rain storm. One of the jobs I did during that call was to shoot an accident caused by hydroplaning, which later lead the 11PM newscast as a VO. That video is below.
9WSYR.com wins National Murrow Award
As a Web Producer for NewsChannel 9′s 9WSYR.com, I’m proud to announce that we’ve won the national Edward R. Murrow award for best website in the small market television category. The RTDNA announced the award Wednesday, June 16.
In April, we also won the best website award in the same category of Region 11, which qualified us for national consideration. This is the second time in three years that 9WSYR.com has won the national award in our category.
Covering 2 big stories this week
The news in Syracuse this week has been overwhelmed by two very big, late-breaking stories. First, on Monday, a fatal crash along Route 31. Then, Thursday, a shooting at an AT&T store in Rome. These two stories have consumed much of my time during the last four days, and so I wanted to save links to them here for posterity.
Into this posting I’ve embedded a 9WSYR.com Video Report that I arranged and edited using video content shot by a NewsChannel 9 team sent to cover of the shooting. It tells the story of the moments immediately following the shots through statements by two witnesses. It is a web-only video that scored hundreds of views within hours of being posted.
Due in large part to these two big stories, I’m also proud to say we’ve seen amazing amounts of traffic on 9WSYR.com recently.
9WSYR.com wins Syracuse Press Club Award
The Syracuse Press Club has announced 9WSYR.com will receive an award in the News Website category of their annual contest. While honored by the Press Club’s announcement, we in NewsChannel 9′s WebUnit do not yet know if we earned first place. That will be announced at the award presentation dinner on May 15. (more…)
9WSYR.com wins Region 11 Murrow award
I’m happy to announce that against some of the largest news organizations in the country, NewsChannel 9, WSYR, won two Edward R. Murrow Awards from the RTDNA. As a web-producer I’m proud to say one of the awards won was for “Best Website.”
From [the award winning] 9WSYR.com:
“NewsChannel 9 is the proud recipient of the regional Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Website and Overall Excellence from the RTDNA…it’s the fourth time in the last five years that 9wsyr.com has won the Best Website honor, including being honored nationally two years ago.”
Our region, number 11, includes all of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania – meaning we had stiff competition for the award. Winning, therefore, feels even more meaningful.
Now, back to working toward winning next year’s award as well.
The Flipside
In 2006 I enrolled in a class at the WSYR has been both busy and exciting during this past week. I do feel as if I’ve grown and adaped increasingly more to the environment and its demands as time has passed.
In retrospect, that RTN 205 class turned out to be among the most valuable courses from my undergraduate career. It was one of the only courses that truly tried to teach us to write in various styles for various outlets. It also introduced me to this market in ways that have become, by nature of my employment, invaluable.
As they say, from humble beginnings…
Breaking the story
Today, I’m proud to report, I was part of breaking a story that appeared first on NewsChannel 9 (WSYR). I received a call from a resident of the Town of Fenner, NY, who said that overnight he heard a loud “crack of thunder” and awoke to see a 260+ foot wind turbine collapsed in the field across the street.
Working with NC9′s Keith Kobland, we confirmed that the turbine had indeed fallen and we broke the story online and in the 8:56 a.m. cut-in (to GMA). At that time we had only our “tower cam” and some file footage, but the lack of visual confirmation would soon be rectified.
We rushed in our photographer and sent him with Keith out to find this wind farm. Anticipating the following that this story could get, I also equipped them with a flip-camera to produce a web-specific video.
23rd District Congressional Debate 2009
Today at NewsChannel 9 I had the luck to be working during the 23rd District Congressional Debate – part of the station’s Vote 2009 coverage. Here are some of the photos I took for the 9wsyr.com web unit:
The story on 9wsyr.com | View the 9wsyr.com slideshow | Watch the debate on 9wsyr.com
My First Professional Ethical Dilema
Today WSYR, and myself, were presented with an ethical dilemma. Should we air photos, obtained from state police, of a two-year old being forced to smoke marijuana?
They had newsworthy value, as state’s evidence in a case of shocking child abuse, but they were also haunting images that the child could not have fought back against.
You can read the resulting story and my boss’s official comment here. I only realized what had just transpired after the management decided to post a explanation of their actions. Dear Newhouse School, here is a new case study.
