We were surprised to find a "soft" announcement from Royal Alexander in this article where he states...
"Poor planning and poor administration by the attorney general's office are the hallmarks of the Foti regime, not to mention the politics-based decision-making process that seems to turn up at every corner," Alexander said in a written statement that launched his campaign. "We can't afford another four years of 'Keystone Cops' style leadership."
Does this mean Alexander has gotten the backing of key republicans? What say you?
On another note...it looks like the Tuesday Alexandria City Council meeting will again be filled with interest...you know with all of those mayoral assistant positions and all. Stay tuned to public access, we're told no on air comments to KALB are forthcoming. Hum...was it something we said?
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
Multimedia manifesto force media to look inward.
Poynter Online is where those of us willing to listen and learn from journalists who seek excellence each day gather. The non-profit organization met Thursday to review what has become a huge issue in our industry...ethics. Judging from the comment section in my last post it is clear, we better learn to listen to the public disappointment with our decisions or face a complete meltdown in trust.
Here is part of the statement from NBC News president Steve Capus of NBC sent to Poynter as they gathered to discuss the ethics of releasing the multimedia manifesto from the VT shooter :
"I want to take a moment to explain our decision. I assure you it was not taken lightly. It was only done after careful consideration and with great sensitivity to the families and friends of the victims and the entire community of Virginia Tech."
I briefly met Capus at an NBC meeting last year and found him to be a humble and kind man for having been identified as one of the most powerful men in the media. I believe him...now the question is do you? And what effect will your disgust over how this situation was handled effect your feelings about KALB? Comment moderation is off...go to town.
Here is part of the statement from NBC News president Steve Capus of NBC sent to Poynter as they gathered to discuss the ethics of releasing the multimedia manifesto from the VT shooter :
"I want to take a moment to explain our decision. I assure you it was not taken lightly. It was only done after careful consideration and with great sensitivity to the families and friends of the victims and the entire community of Virginia Tech."
I briefly met Capus at an NBC meeting last year and found him to be a humble and kind man for having been identified as one of the most powerful men in the media. I believe him...now the question is do you? And what effect will your disgust over how this situation was handled effect your feelings about KALB? Comment moderation is off...go to town.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
We played right into his hands.
The headline reads:
BLACKSBURG, Va. - Restaurant patrons cringed and mothers turned their children away from the television as the video came up of an armed Cho Seung-Hui delivering a snarling, venomous tirade about rich "brats" and their "hedonistic needs."
The way the Virginia Tech story has played out on national television could have implications for longer than the images of the slain will be remembered. Positive and negative effects like anything will be felt.
On a positive note, perhaps the fact that the students there are demanding a better way to be informed during an emergency will prompt others throughout the country to take steps to form better plans. I know we have here.
But the negative result is what shakes me up. How many other sullen, mind twisted people are out there with delusional thoughts ready to jump now that the media has shown every last bit of the VT killers confessions? At what point do we cross the line and over saturate the coverage with his venom thus giving him exactly what he wanted in life and now has achieved in death?
Just asking.
BLACKSBURG, Va. - Restaurant patrons cringed and mothers turned their children away from the television as the video came up of an armed Cho Seung-Hui delivering a snarling, venomous tirade about rich "brats" and their "hedonistic needs."
The way the Virginia Tech story has played out on national television could have implications for longer than the images of the slain will be remembered. Positive and negative effects like anything will be felt.
On a positive note, perhaps the fact that the students there are demanding a better way to be informed during an emergency will prompt others throughout the country to take steps to form better plans. I know we have here.
But the negative result is what shakes me up. How many other sullen, mind twisted people are out there with delusional thoughts ready to jump now that the media has shown every last bit of the VT killers confessions? At what point do we cross the line and over saturate the coverage with his venom thus giving him exactly what he wanted in life and now has achieved in death?
Just asking.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Virginia Tech Shooter Sends Multimedia Packet to NBC
Here is the official statement:
"NBC received a communication from Cho Seung-Hui, the man identified by police as the Virginia Tech shooter, via the US Mail this morning and immediately turned it over to the authorities. The package included images, videos and writings, and appears to have been mailed between the two shootings. We are cooperating fully with the authorities.
--- Allison Gollust, SVP News Media Relations"
and here is the MSNBC story:
Details at 5:30 on Night News with Brian Williams.
More later...
"NBC received a communication from Cho Seung-Hui, the man identified by police as the Virginia Tech shooter, via the US Mail this morning and immediately turned it over to the authorities. The package included images, videos and writings, and appears to have been mailed between the two shootings. We are cooperating fully with the authorities.
--- Allison Gollust, SVP News Media Relations"
and here is the MSNBC story:
Details at 5:30 on Night News with Brian Williams.
More later...
Technology on my mind.
As some of you may know KALB.com debuted a new service called TextCaster Tuesday night. It is a free text message system which alerts subscribers to breaking news and weather. I have been a subscriber of the service since October from a TV station in Charleston and consequently have been the first to know about weather, road closures and breaking news. Before debuting the service here I wanted to see how it can be used. Then the massacre in Virgina Tech happened and it was clear KALB.com needed to jump in and do this too. We are committed to developing technology that can help central Louisiana residents and have this potential warning system no matter how basic.
Could a text message service have warned the students of Virginia Tech earlier?
Facebook has become the place to mourn for college students wishing to express their pain in the aftermath of the shooting deaths on VT. If you wish to express your feelings KALB.com has a special section
And finally, I want to thank all of you who took part in our discussion on gun control. Read this article to find out what our presidential candidates are saying.
The gun debate has begun again.
Could a text message service have warned the students of Virginia Tech earlier?
Facebook has become the place to mourn for college students wishing to express their pain in the aftermath of the shooting deaths on VT. If you wish to express your feelings KALB.com has a special section
And finally, I want to thank all of you who took part in our discussion on gun control. Read this article to find out what our presidential candidates are saying.
The gun debate has begun again.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Gun control...here it comes?
It was bound to happen. If you read the discussion on international websites over the Virginia Tech shootings you see what they say, Americans are gun crazy fiends running around ready to pop off.
Presidential candidate John McCain says "We have to look at what happened here, but it doesn't change my views on the Second Amendment, except to make sure that these kinds of weapons don't fall into the hands of bad people."
But who knows if a person is "bad?" Gun control, here it comes?
Presidential candidate John McCain says "We have to look at what happened here, but it doesn't change my views on the Second Amendment, except to make sure that these kinds of weapons don't fall into the hands of bad people."
But who knows if a person is "bad?" Gun control, here it comes?
Cyber-bullies could land in court?
Before the Virginia Tech shooting post a discussion was getting notice on the issue of cyber-bullies. If you have not looked at the comments they may be worth your time.
One local attorney says the following "Several local lawyers have met and discussed these issues, as well as with an LSU law professor. As blogs are a relatively new technology, legal procedure have not yet caught up with it.Recognizing that blog have a great potential for misuse, several national suggestions for a code of blog ethics have been suggested. Basically, these have been modified from codes for journalists."
I bet that does not sit well with some of you since I have heard about a "lack of code of ethics" for local journalists. The issue does have local relevance since one blog in particular seems to spin out of control with defamatory remarks.
Could local cyber-bullies someday land in court?
On another note, a former central Louisiana reporter Josh Green is doing excellent work reporting on the Virginia Tech situation. Journalists like him are the future of the media, both savy and sensitive. He is someone to be proud of and we wish him well, that is not an easy assignment by any means.
One local attorney says the following "Several local lawyers have met and discussed these issues, as well as with an LSU law professor. As blogs are a relatively new technology, legal procedure have not yet caught up with it.Recognizing that blog have a great potential for misuse, several national suggestions for a code of blog ethics have been suggested. Basically, these have been modified from codes for journalists."
I bet that does not sit well with some of you since I have heard about a "lack of code of ethics" for local journalists. The issue does have local relevance since one blog in particular seems to spin out of control with defamatory remarks.
Could local cyber-bullies someday land in court?
On another note, a former central Louisiana reporter Josh Green is doing excellent work reporting on the Virginia Tech situation. Journalists like him are the future of the media, both savy and sensitive. He is someone to be proud of and we wish him well, that is not an easy assignment by any means.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Virginia Tech Shootings...i-report makes it's mark.
There are so many questions right now and few answers to the mystery of how at least 30 people could have been killed in a mass shooting on the Virginia Tech campus.
KALB has a connection to this story as our sister station WSLS is located in Roanoke, Virginia and has been in wall-to-wall coverage since this morning. You can watch the local coverage at www.wsls.com
The CNN i-report video detailing the shots fired from Jamal Albarghouti a student from Virginia Tech will certainly become the focus of how the Internet can help bring perspective to a live breaking current event by allowing eye witnesses to contribute to content.
Do you have a connection to Virgina Tech? We are told there are students from central Louisiana who attend the school and are looking for local connections. With that said, this is certainly the time to keep the families effected by this terrible shooting in our hearts and take a moment to pray for their recovery.
KALB has a connection to this story as our sister station WSLS is located in Roanoke, Virginia and has been in wall-to-wall coverage since this morning. You can watch the local coverage at www.wsls.com
The CNN i-report video detailing the shots fired from Jamal Albarghouti a student from Virginia Tech will certainly become the focus of how the Internet can help bring perspective to a live breaking current event by allowing eye witnesses to contribute to content.
Do you have a connection to Virgina Tech? We are told there are students from central Louisiana who attend the school and are looking for local connections. With that said, this is certainly the time to keep the families effected by this terrible shooting in our hearts and take a moment to pray for their recovery.
Are we giving "cyber-bullies" free reign?
I have shared with many of you in person my interested in breaking open the dialog between the web public and the local media. This blog began that way and in only one week I was forced to filter the remarks made. They were not particularly terrible, still, it became clear the blog needed to be moderated to stay on point.
The blogosphere is the new frontier allowing anyone with the desire to become a news seeker and/or maker. But in a recent article in the Los Angeles Times which a family member sent to me, it is clear "cyber-bullies" as The Times call them could have had a negative effect on the blogosphere.
The target was Kathy Sierra a software expert who cancelled her keynote speech at a technology conference in San Diego afraid to leave her home in Boulder, Colorado. If you are interested in reading the details click here http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-internet31mar31,1,5007247.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
This article makes me ask you the question, do you think the personal attacks made on some of the blogs in central Louisiana warrant the branding of "cyber-bullies" and what can we do to stop them?
As always I am interested in hearing your thoughts.
The blogosphere is the new frontier allowing anyone with the desire to become a news seeker and/or maker. But in a recent article in the Los Angeles Times which a family member sent to me, it is clear "cyber-bullies" as The Times call them could have had a negative effect on the blogosphere.
The target was Kathy Sierra a software expert who cancelled her keynote speech at a technology conference in San Diego afraid to leave her home in Boulder, Colorado. If you are interested in reading the details click here http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-internet31mar31,1,5007247.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
This article makes me ask you the question, do you think the personal attacks made on some of the blogs in central Louisiana warrant the branding of "cyber-bullies" and what can we do to stop them?
As always I am interested in hearing your thoughts.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
My favorite post is...
The anon who said
"Bloggers aren't responding to your blog because it takes too long to get comments posted. Quit having a life, and sit by your computer 24/7. It is the only way that you will maintain interest."
April 15, 2007 9:58 AM
I promise to try harder. There are some very interesting posts I just published. I have to admit they are a bit late, but the filter is still needed to cull the insults, although since I put it on only one post has been rejected. Speaking of insults, just read a really interesting article about "cyber bullies" more to come.
"Bloggers aren't responding to your blog because it takes too long to get comments posted. Quit having a life, and sit by your computer 24/7. It is the only way that you will maintain interest."
April 15, 2007 9:58 AM
I promise to try harder. There are some very interesting posts I just published. I have to admit they are a bit late, but the filter is still needed to cull the insults, although since I put it on only one post has been rejected. Speaking of insults, just read a really interesting article about "cyber bullies" more to come.
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