The Rockford Register Star is more than a newspaper: the ink on print or the “bricks” in the News Tower. We’re a multimedia news and information company: the “clicks” on our Web site and the TV clips on WREX-13. This blog explains our fast-changing media environment and interacts with our readers to show how and why we do what we do.
Both of these stories also are filled with human emotion. We journalists do our best to respect the families and friends affected when we’re covering stories like these.
I read comments on the farm accident story today, and one person thought we shouldn’t have posted any information until we had news.
We first told readers on rrstar.com around 3:30 p.m. when the coroner was on her way to the farm. The 911 call came about two hours earlier. We updated the story as we gathered more information. One of the updates confirmed how the father and son — died. Another update added context on the type of accident. Much later, we told you their names — Michael and Kyle Mitchell.
We try to share information with the public as we have it. That means we check that information and release it as we have it confirmed by sources. It’s not always black and white. This tragedy has affected a tight-knit community.
It was evident in this quote from the Rev. Steve Shullanberger of Winnebago First Presbyterian Church, who served as the family’s spokesman: “I’ve been blessed to know the Mitchell family for about 12 years. They’ve been a part of the church since before I was born, some 60 years. They’ve been dairymen for many, many years. They’re not just respected locally, but regionally. They’d give you the shirt off their backs to help you out.”
Today, we’re talking to community members who will help the Mitchell family run their farm as they cope with their loss.
JibJab is one of those sites I love to visit every so often. I was surfing our blogs today and saw a link to a new Obama-McCain campaign video. That’s funny, but this isn’t a political blog.
So, instead, I’ll share the video, “What We Call The News.” It focuses mostly on TV news. A classic, for sure. Warning: Some risque material.
Want to see local TV personalities and politicians square off in a dancing competition? Well, you can. Check out Georgette Braun’s blog, Ask Geo, for the video. And make sure to cast your vote for the couple you think will take home the prize in the “Dancing with the TV Divas” competition at a fundraiser for Burpee Museum. There are nearly 7,000 votes cast already.
Here’s a look at the couples … Laura Gibbs, WREX-13 reporter; State Rep. Dave Winters, R-Shirland
Kimberly Nelson, FOX-39 anchor, WTVO-17 reporter; State Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford
I didn’t watch the Miss Universe pageant last night, but I did hear about Miss USA’s tumble during the evening gown competition.
I only share for two reasons. The video’s already on YouTube (not real surprising, I guess). And I wanted you to see how this United Kingdom site handled the coverage.
… sunny and a cool high of 80 degrees monday. cool, i say, because i usually melt in 90-degree weather out there: i’m the captain of the register star’s marshalls on hole 15 of forest hills cc. we hold the quiet signs and find errant drives, counting how many go in the water each year.
if you’re thinking about taking a vacation day to watch the pros you normally only see on tv, get the basics, an interactive course map and q&a at our pro-am site. plus you can see all of our stories here.
so far, we’ve had one great response. i gotta believe there are more of you out there stepping “on board.” so write mike!
on a personal note: i want to try this thing. would be a nice supplement to going to the gym … and god forbid, going outdoors.
i was cleaning up in my office this morning (the 5-minute version) and realized i have extra copies of the last few issues of rockford woman.
if you were featured in the magazine and need keepsakes … or if you just needed a copy for some reason, e-mail me at jpollock@rockfordwoman.com. or just leave a comment.
the magazine is usually in short supply, so this is a bonus!
Most of us in the newsroom use the word, “hit,” when talking about traffic on a story, video, photo gallery, etc. But we don’t measure hits. We measure page views, among other things.
Last week I was talking to Kent Ecklor, our online director, about hits because I’ve had a tough time explaining the difference between a hit and a page view to newsroom staffers. Kent told me not to even try to explain the difference. Instead, he shared five things we do measure with explainers:
Daily Unique Visitors
Daily Unique Visitors are defined as a visitor’s first visit to your site in a day. While one person may visit your site and view the home page three times, a contact page twice, and several other pages once each, the Unique Visitors report records that person as one “unique visitor” for the time allotted. Note that if an individual visits your site from both home and work, he/she will be counted as two distinct visitors.
Weekly Unique Visitors
Weekly Unique Visitors are defined as a visitor’s first visit to your site in a week. While one person may visit your site and view the home page three times, a contact page twice, and several other pages once each, the Unique Visitors report records that person as one “unique visitor” for the time allotted. Note that if an individual visits your site from both home and work, he/she will be counted as two distinct visitors.
Monthly Unique Visitors
Monthly Unique Visitors are defined as a visitor’s first visit to your site that month. While one person may visit your site and view the home page three times, a contact page twice, and several other pages once each, the Unique Visitors report records that person as one “unique visitor” for the time allotted. Note that if an individual visits your site from both home and work, he/she will be counted as two distinct visitors.
VisitsÂ
A visit is defined as a sequence of consecutive page views without a 30 minute break. A visit always contains one or more page views. A unique visitor always performs at least one, but possibly more, visits.
Page views
A page view is counted every time someone visiting your site loads a page in his or her browser. This includes pages that are loaded as a result of the reload and back buttons. Note that the times displayed are in whatever your site administrator configured as your “home” time zone.
Hope this helps you, too. And, if not, I found this really cool site called NetLingo. You can search any Web term.
