Archive for March, 2008
March 19th, 2008
If you’ve been reading rrstar.com in the last six days, you know about the Illinois-shaped cornflake. We had it first. Yep. It’s true. Check this out.
We first published the cornflake story on rrstar.com on Friday. We got a note from Don McIntire (his daughters were selling the flake) that day and decided to post the “bright” online. We updated the story Friday online. We did a google search Friday to see if anyone else had the story. Nobody did. By Friday night, WREX-13 had the story on its 10 p.m. newscast. (They had this segment Monday.)
By Monday morning, the cornflake story was all over national broadcasts and print pubs. We continued to update the story online Monday, Tuesday and today.
Goes to show how viral the Web is … what started as a quick, fun update turned into a national piece that was shared using many platforms.
March 19th, 2008
i can’t be sure, but when i was checking my hometown newspaper’s web site, i saw they posted a photo gallery from the filming of the johnny depp movie “public enemies,” which is being filmed in wisconsin. (thanks, ap, for that photo above!)
ok, so unless you’re drooling for depp or christian bale, why would you in the rock river valley care? because we reported earlier that a dillinger car from the roscoe historic auto attractions is being used on the set.
UPDATE: here is another gallery. and another.
March 19th, 2008
anna wrote earlier about erin brockovich’s impending rockford visit to kick off our three-part smart talk series.
i’m still wired the morning after shaking her hand and hearing her message at the coronado.
she is indeed a great speaker:
funny (when she said her language was grittier and her skirts were shorter than as portrayed by julia roberts in the 2000 movie that bears her name).
real (when she said she’s still dealing with how to handle her celebrity status and cashiers at costco don’t believe she’s a real person).
serious (when she talked about her pride in her three children and the fact that all of them have overcome drug addiction).
inspirational (when she spoke at length about “the power of one,” that you have to do what is right, trust your instincts and be yourself).
green (not only did she wear a green blouse with her suit, she talked about the importance of green as a state of mind, not just one more way for businesses to make money … side note: i wonder whether “erin brockovich” would have been even more popular if it had come out in 2008 because of its focus on clean water and the environment …)
it was a wonderful evening, as we showed you with our story and photo gallery. erin has both inner and outer beauty. i hope you can join us to see cbs journalist lesley stahl on april 15 and “everybody loves raymond” actress doris roberts on may 20.
March 18th, 2008
Journalists often get to meet famous people. I’ve met some in my nearly nine-year career: Jared from the Subway commercials; U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (when he was campaigning here at Midway Theater for Senate); now Texas Gov. Rick Perry (he was Lt. Gov then, and I’ll bet he still wears cowboy boots with his suits); former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm; Rockford Thunder pitcher Cat Osterman (former Texas ace); Randal Pinkett, one of Donald Trump’s apprentices; and Bobby McFerrin of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” fame.
And I’ve been in the same room with Barbara Bush and Mike Ditka.
Tonight, even if I don’t meet Erin Brockovich, I’ll hear her speak at the Coronado Theatre as the first of a three-part Smart Talk series. Lesley Stahl and Doris Roberts will be here in April 15 and May 20, respectively. Julia Roberts won an Oscar playing Brockovich in the 2000 movie, “Erin Brockovich.”
There are some perks in this business. Getting to hear people like Erin Brockovich is one of ‘em. I love listening to strong women. I am in for a treat tonight.
March 17th, 2008
in case you missed it sunday:
the register star’s will pfeifer (aka, the movie man) was interviewed by allison keyes for npr’s “all things considered” for a story about the power of catwoman. when he’s not at the rrs, will writes for dc comics, and “catwoman” is his big gig right now. (my personal favorite series was “hero.”)
so check it out.
March 14th, 2008
mary nesbit of the readership institute, which researches audience preferences and promotes best practices as part of northwestern university, has blogged about the rockford register star’s approach to connecting with its audiences across multiple platforms.
the interview with linda grist cunningham, our executive editor, is pretty extensive. she reminds us that while the technology changes (she commonly predicts holograms), our job is the same: to tell the story.
March 14th, 2008
Yeah, it’s corny, but that’s what made it so much fun for us. We got an e-mail from a reader this morning telling us about an Illinois-shaped cornflake that’s for sale on eBay. So, we did what any good journalists would do. We shared it with you.
Oh, and, a quick search uncovered this beauty.
Wondering what could be the weirdest thing ever sold on eBay? Here you go.
I love the viral nature of the Web.
March 13th, 2008
I’m a member of Next Rockford. You may have heard about the group, which is made up of Gen X and Gen Y professionals who live and work in the Rock River Valley. The group is active in community service, promoting the region and its young professionals, and making a difference.
I joined the group a year ago after Rebecca Ryan and members of Next Rockford visited the Editorial Board (of which I’m a member). Ryan, a consultant who lives in Madison, Wis., discussed how communities thrive when they focus on attracting and retaining talent. It’s important, she said, to build the next generation of leaders for our community. I believe that.
This morning, I was at Next Rockford’s monthly meeting. Bob O’Brien, the Rockford airport’s top exec, talked about the importance of the airport on the local economy. As I listened to Bob, I looked around the room. There were people around the table that have a lot of talent, passion and expertise. There were doctors, attorneys, public relations execs, bankers, developers, engineers … I could keep going.
There are many news outfits that don’t encourage community involvement like this. I am fortunate that’s not how it is here. I came to Rockford in October 2000. Thought I would be here two years and then move on to a bigger and better market.
But I fell in love with this town and the surrounding region. It encourages me that there are others (around my age) who are vested in this community.
March 12th, 2008
There’s really no such thing as a newspaper journalist anymore. We’re journalists. Period. And the content we produce publishes on many platforms.
There’s the newspaper, of course. Still our core product. We’ve also got our Web sites (rrstar.com, BusinessRockford.com, go.rrstar.com and RockfordWoman.com), which are growing year over year. We publish magazines (Rockford Woman and goNOW, the young reader pub). We appear on WREX-13 newscasts and partner with the NBC affiliate on stories. We go on radio programs. Will Pfeifer — aka Movie Man — appears with Steve and Leigh on 97ZOK.
We are an integrated newsroom that is constantly evaluating how to improve what we do. Here’s a look at how one newsroom formed a hub to better integrate its operations.
March 11th, 2008
The Web is certainly the future of journalism. And shooting videos is just one component of having a robust news site. We shoot a couple video with three different types of equipment.
We have what we call the big-boy equipment (the stuff much like what our TV counterparts use) that include an HD camera, light kit, mics and more. And we have point-and-shoot cameras and camcorders. We use the big-boy stuff when we’re working with a lot of audio because the sound quality is much better. For down-and-dirty, quick video, we use the smaller cameras.
While video quality is important, we also know that quantity and timeliness also are important. Some of our most popular videos are of breaking news. Those are usually are shot, edited and posted within two hours. In the beginning, it used to take us about four hours to produce videos.
On Friday, we published seven videos. We used the camcorder to shoot five videos of the Golden Apple winners. And we used the big-boy camera to shoot the Chrysler videos. See all the Golden Apple videos here. See the Chrysler videos here and here.
We’re a medium-size newsroom, and we’ve been shooting video for about 15 months. We get better at it every day. The YouTube video below talks about how smaller newsrooms can stay competitive by embracing video, even if it’s shot with a point-and-shoot and never wins an award.
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