Always online, on Facebook and Twitter

Now more then ever it seems news organizations are jumping on the social media bandwagon, which is a good thing. It helps viewers realized there are actual people behind the news stories. It also allows viewers to interact with reporters, and perhaps suggest stories. Between Twitter, Facebook and their internet sites each station in the Capital Region is doing a fairly good job of adapting to the always changing media forms.

Twitter All of the news stations in Albany are using twitter, some better than others. Fox23 up until recently was only using twitter feed, and Capital News 9 is still mainly using twitter feed. Setting up a twitter account with only twitter feed doesn’t mean you are using twitter (as far as I see it).

CBS6 and NewsChannel 13 use twitter feed –but also use it to talk about stories they are working on, what stories are coming up in their newscasts, or get reaction from viewers. This mix of twitter feed and real people tweeting can be both good and bad. Instead of going to one of these news organizations websites and looking for a story, they are all right there on twitter. But, at the same time so many stories coming at you can be a little overwhelming.

News10 seems to be real tweets from real people. Whether it’s where Steve went to get coffee or posting the latest John McLoughlin story, their twitter seems to be the most real. Fox23’s twitter seems to be all business. Just teasing stories and talking about what stories a reporter is working on, or breaking stories. Lately, Capital News 9 has been using their twitter to report traffic problems, which makes me wonder why not make a separate twitter page for Capital Region Traffic?

Individual reporters and anchors are also on twitter. I like the idea of individual people being on twitter. You know who you are tweeting to, as apposed to tweeting to a news organization. And, it also helps when suggesting a story idea, or just to tell them how great they are at what they do!

Facebook NewsChannel 13, News10, CBS6 and Fox 23 News all are on Facebook. NewsChannel 13 and CBS6 seem to use it to post stories, so people can comment on a story. News10 seems to be using it to post weather, information about pet connection, and the News10 at 4 viral video. Like twitter, Facebook also has individual anchors on it. CBS6 has set up accounts for Liz Bishop, Marci Natale, Jerry Gretzinger and Meteorologist Steve LaPointe

Web Only Only one news station has video blogs and exclusive online content –CBS6 News. Morning anchor Ed O’Brien files a daily “Ed’s Head” and Assignment Editor Shane Mahar lets viewers know what CBS6 will be covering that day on “From The Desk.” CBS6 also has exclusive video reports by Ken Screven, Steve Flamisch and Jerry Gretzinger.

FOX23 News is adding a new feature to its newscasts, “The Rant.” This is a great idea, and I think it will be a great addition to their newscasts. CBS6 also uses viewer’s twitter and Facebook comments on stories they cover during their 5:30 newscast. News10 has also been taking advantage of the comment section of their website, by reading people’s comments on their newscasts. And, during their Presidential Visit coverage NewsChannel 13 read people’s twitter comments on the air.

Everything you need, no --want, to know about Balloon Boy

First the Facts:
1. His family was on ABC's wife swap.

2. He barfed on "Good Morning America" and the "Today" show.

3. As of 1:30 pm (10.16.09), 89% of people who took TV Guide's online poll thinks the whole thing was a hoax.


Breaking News, as it happens: Thursday, October 15, around 11:00am, local time, KUSA (NBC station in Denver) and the local cops got a call from the Balloon Boy's dad, reports B&C. That basically began the non-stop coverage of the Balloon Crisis. Even WTEN, the local ABC station in Albany, NY simulcasted CNN's coverage during the afternoon. Denver Post TV Critic, Joanne Ostrow, has this write up about how local channels covered the Balloon Crisis, adding this:

Terrific visuals of what looked like a flying Mylar muffin kept viewers glued to screens through a day of frantic coverage centered on 6-year-old Falcon Heene and the family's loosed balloon

This whole thing gave KUSA's website a major boost, number wise; here's what KUSA general manager Mark Cornetta had to say:

To put things in perspective, our normal traffic on a day without any major breaking news or weather is usually anywhere from 750,000 to a million page views a day, and about 150,000 unique visitors. Yesterday, we had 4.6 million page views and 939,000 visitors. And between the hours of 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. alone, we had 722,000 unique visitors and 3.8 million page views.

Finally, at 6:07pm ET, the boy was found hiding in a box (nope, in a press conference taking place as I type this the police officer says he wasn't in a box) in the attic. This is when people knew that it was ok to start poking fun at the boy's adventure (because he was safe), and some people began to question if it a publicity stunt for the father (he says it wasn't), or the family's Wife Swap appearance. A DJ from, 96.1 Kiss FM, Scott Ehrenberger tweeted this:

Yo Balloon Boy, Ima let you finish, but Anne Frank had the best attic hideout of all time

There's also this webpage with some funny images on it, about the whole Balloon Crisis. We also learned more about the father, CBS6 reports:

He also happens to be one-half of a weather-investigative team with a former on-air weather personality at CBS 6.

That part of the story here.

Later Thursday, the family gave an interview with CNN's Wolfe Blitzer, in which the Balloon Boy was quoted as saying this: "we did this for the show", which raised many questions.

Want some Barf with that cereal?
Then, this morning on TV the family went on all three morning shows, but only barfed during two of the interviews. I still don't know how the family was in three places at once!

Now, TMZ (the most trusted name in news, I know...JK) has the 911 call, listen to it here.

The cops don't think it was a hoax And, around 2pm ET, Friday afternoon, a press conference began with Jim Alderden, Sheriff of Larimer County in Colorado. Addressing the aspect of it being a hoax, the sheriff had this to say:

It's very evident that this boy is very hyperactive, to say the least, and, you know, the suggestion to us that perhaps this boy had been coached or coaxed by his parents to hide and remain still in this attic for five hours during the duration of this event, just seems inconceivable

Did WTEN just re-air a three month old story, no ABC did

Last night I was watching News10 at 11, on WTEN, the local ABC station in Albany, NY, when a story about Hidden fees came on. It was done by ABC News reporter Bill Weir. Immediately I realized I had seen the story someplace in the past and I jumped to the conclusion that News10 re-aired the piece.

The story was originally done for a story on the July 15, 2009 Nightline. I thought it was odd that they were re-airing, a story from Nightline on News10 at 11, for two reasons. One, why re-air a story so many moths later, but two; stories on Nightline usually run around 3-5 minutes, as the show typically only has 3 stories from reporters, and a story so long on a local newscast is almost unheard of.

So, this morning I looked into it a little more, and found this out. On Monday night's ABC World News they aired the Bill Weir piece (which aired later on NEWS10 at 11). But, it was a much shorter piece then the original nightline story, from a 5 minute and 45 second story, on Nightline in July; to a 3 minute story on Monday night's World News. This is when I realized that News10 must have just used the report from ABC, seeing how WTEN is affiliated with ABC they have access to all of their stoires. Therefore it was ABC, not News10 that re-used and edited the story . My thought is that it could have had something to do with Monday being a holiday and the lack of news, that ABC News decided to re-air the piece; but shame on them.

NEWS10 was first to report, but should they have been?

{Here's the video link, if the video player above does not show up.}

Last night, News10 -the ABC station in Albany- was first to report a plot to kidnap, torture and kill former Rensselaer County District Attorney Trish DeAngelis. News10, as news stations typically do, billed this as an "Exclusive" story, which from what I can tell at the time it was. However, the story was based off of three anonymous, sources. A news story is based off of anonymous sources can be sketchy, and some people will say it is a practice of bad journalism, like some comments on this Times Union Blog. To me, this is investigative journalism, as WTEN was the first media outlet to report this story (from what I can tell). How did Anya Tucker get a hold of this info? Who knows? But, I feel (and hope) that she, and WTEN (actually, any news organization), would only report on a story if they had solid facts, which despite the anonymity, it appears WTEN had. So News10 was the first to report on this story, last night.

By tonight's news it was not "Exclusive." Reporter Steve Flamisch covered this story for CBS6. Flmaisch mentioned WTEN, in his print and video story, something that the decision makers at WRGB, undoubtedly had to debate over doing or not doing. I thought this was very interesting that another news organization would site another news organization (normally competitors). But, the article/story on cbs6albany.com does not shed a nice light on WTEN.

Regarding WTEN, McNally said he could subpoena the reporter and anyone else with knowledge of the claims. He said, however, that he currently has no plans to do so.

NewsChannel 13 and the Times Union also covered this story

How this story was covered raises some questions, for me at least. Was it right for News10 to air this story last night, a story based off of three unnamed sources? Does anyone care about this story? Is this quality journalism?

PETA's Protest.

{NOTE: The video will start playing immediately, because of that I will delete this blog post in about a week.}

Yesterday, I told you that PETA was going to protest, by dumping milk in front of an Albany grocery store. Fox23 News did a story on it here it is:

My Duh moment of the day

Everyday I say things I sometimes regret, today I questioned, on twitter, whether or not News10 reporter Anya Tucker is pregnant or not; she is.

But earlier today, in my History class, somehow the teacher got on the topic of Voodoo Dolls, and someone in the class said they were related to witch doctors. So, I whispered to my friend sitting next to me, "wasn't there a song about that in the Chipmunks movie?" Well, the teacher said, "Michael, do you know?" Seeing as I had no time to come up with a BS answer, I said, "well I know the chipmunks sang a song about it, in the movie." The whole class cracked up!

Afternoon Update: Wednesday October 7th 2009

Yes, it's only Wednesday. There have been some really interesting stories around the area lately.

First in Albany, at the Achievement Academy, Two teachers have quite after saying they were secretly videotaped. For some reason FOX23 wasted the talents of Jeff Saperstone on this story, but here's his report and the Times Union Schools blog has more here.

There's this major trial going on in the area, now that tapes of the interview with the father (Adrian Thomas) and police have been released; the TV coverage has ramped up. Here's CBS6's coverage from last night at 5, the video is very compelling -including the police praying with Thomas. More of this video will get played today in court, according to various news organizations, so we'll see what happens.

Happening Today, as they say. While you are not suppose to cry over spilt milk, I think this protest is just dumb. This from a news release from PETA:

Dressed as a cow, a PETA supporter will dump gallons of "milk" outside a grocery store in Albany as part of a protest against cruel factory dairy farms.

Here's the full news release, seems like a waste of milk to me.


In today's Times Union there is this article that says Kate, from John & Kate might get her own talk show, I know who cares....I'm just saying.

Also in today's Times Union is part of this associated press story about how David Letterman's ratings have been going up --because he keeps talking!

This tweet from News10's Steve A. explains that Diane Lee (formally of FOX23 News) will be leaving the ABC station in Albany, to take a job down south.



Also, it appears John Craig, who literally has reported for every capital region news station is back on NewsChannel 13.

I saw him on "NewsChannel 13 Today" this morning with this report about the ongoing Adrian Thomas Trial. When I tweeted NewsChannel 13 to ask if it was in fact John Craig, they tweeted me back telling me it was John Craig.

They also tweeted me this: