November 5, 2007

Bicycles and Cars on KGW

Monday night we ran a story on our 11 p.m. newscast about the conflict between drivers and cyclists in Portland.

The purpose of the story was to separate fact from fiction and bring some light to this debate over sharing the road.

Amy Troy has done an excellent job of balancing this story. The views of drivers and cyclists are well represented.

More importantly, Amy has looked at the facts. And the fact is that both cyclists and drivers ignore traffic laws and endanger themselves and others. Another fact is that when it comes to who is at fault in car-bike collisions the blame is spread equally - 50 percent of the time it is the driver's fault and 50 percent of the time it is the cyclist's fault.

What I like most about Amy's story is the sound bite from one cycling advocate who says: "We recently had this car vs. bike debate, and it turned out it really wasn't a debate because we all wanted the same thing - safety."

Taking off my news director's hat, I want to say that I am both a driver and an avid cyclist. As a driver, I have seen cyclists act irresponsibly. And, as a cyclist, I have seen drivers act irresponsibly and scare the heck out of me. We all must do a better job of observing the law, respecting each other, making safety for everyone paramount and sharing the road.

My hope is that Amy's story and Northwest NewsChannel 8 can play a constructive role in bringing cyclists and drivers together with the common goal of keeping everyone safe on the roads we share.

Posted by Rod Gramer | 11:16 PM

May 17, 2007

The Forgotten War

More than a year ago Portland free-lance journalist Scott Kesterson came to me and asked if Northwest NewsChannel 8 would sponsor his reporting on the war in Afghanistan. The Oregon National Guard was about to send more than a 1,000 troops to the country and agreed to let Scott go along.

I was impressed with Scott's intelligence and dedication. He was also a veteran of the National Guard so he had some military experience that would help him in the assignment. I jumped at the opportunity to have Scott cover the war for kgw.com.

During the past year, Scott has written a regular blog from the front lines in Afghanistan and he has sent back some of the most incredible war video I've ever seen.
Scott Kesterson's Afghanistan Blog

Last summer he was involved in a fire fight between the Taliban and Canadian forces. It was a night-time fire fight and you could see the bullets flying through the black night like slim missiles on fire. It was the most impressive video I've seen all year.
Watch video: Troops ambushed
Watch video: Firefight at dawn with Taliban (graphic language)

Scott has become something of a folk hero with Canadians because of his willingness to stand shoulder to shoulder with the soldiers to capture this raw video of a real battle. It was real reality TV.

While other U.S. journalists covered the war for a few days or a couple weeks at most, Scott was on the ground for more than a year. Unbelievably, he was the only American journalist embedded full time with U.S. forces. Talk about the forgotten war.

Scott went places and saw things that only the soldiers on the ground have seen. He worked along side the soldiers, lived under the same conditions and took the same risks. He got to know the soldiers personally and he got to love the Afghan people.

Scott tells me he was the first on-line journalist ever embedded with the U.S. military. He demonstrated the power of the internet and this new form of journalism called blogging.

For the past year I have worried about Scott's safety and ended every email exchange with the words: Be safe. This week Scott walked back into the station, tanned and rested after arriving back in the states last week. I breathed a sigh of relief just to see him. Over lunch this week I sat glued to every word as Scott told me about his experiences.

Now we want to put a voice and a face to all those wonderful blogs from the front. Yesterday, NewsChannel 8 reporter Pat Dooris sat down with Scott for an extensive interview. The first of Pat's stories about Scott's experiences will run Friday night, May 18, at 11 p.m. Please watch. You won't want to miss this spellbinding story. - Rod Gramer, Executive News Director

Posted by Rod Gramer | 11:23 AM

April 19, 2007

Virginia Tech shooter video

NBC and the rest of us in the media have received a lot of criticism for releasing the video and pictures sent by Virginia Tech killer Cho Seung Hui.
Critics say that the video victimizes the Virginia Tech students, faculty and parents again. They say it could even lead to copycat crimes on college campuses.
Like virtually every media outlet, Northwest NewsChannel 8 used the Cho video in stories yesterday and this morning. We did not make that decision lightly. We, too, found the video very disturbing and were aware of the good arguments against using the video.
After much discussion, we decided to limit the amount of video we used. We decided not to use the more blatant material outside the newscast where it could not be put into context. We produced two stories that evaluated whether it was a good idea for us to release the video.
That said, we believed that the video and pictures gave us an insight into the twisted thinking of this mass murderer. We believed that we might learn something that could help us identify others in our society with the same, dangerous tendancies. We thought we could provide some context and perspective on the material.

Continue reading "Virginia Tech shooter video"

Posted by Rod Gramer | 5:09 PM | Comments (1)

KGW decision regarding Cho Seung-Hui images

KGW Northwest Newschannel 8 has chosen not to show any more of the video or still photos on TV that Cho Seung-Hui sent to NBC news. We will only air any of this material if it is relevant to future stories.

We believe the public interest in using this material has been served and there is no good journalistic reason to use it further.

Rick Jacobs
Assistant News Director
Northwest Newschannel 8

Kgw.com's web site has removed all the graphic images of the Virginia Tech shooter from display on its home page. The information will remain available on the site but only via a link that contains a disclaimer that users must knowingly choose to click on, so that users won't be exposed to these images against their choice...while those who want access to the information have that option.

Frank Mungeam
Internet Site Manager
kgw.com

Posted by Teresa Bell | 11:42 AM | Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)

November 17, 2006

Growing pains for kgw.com web site

11/30 update:

This week, our IT team finished 'optimizing' our new site with Microsoft's new browser, Internet Explorer version 7.0. MS released their new browswer right after we launched our new site, so for the first few weeks some of our pages didn't display properly. Our coders have now finished adapting the site for the new browser so all our features should be accesible with the upgraded IE7. Thanks for your patience on that one.

Also this week, we were able to resolve an overlapping-text problem in several site sections. In Nation/World, Entertainment, and National Sports, text from the first story was overlapping our top-of-page graphic. Right after we 'fixed' it, Associated Press made changes to our feed, which then created a different display problem. All that's been resolved, so those pages now display properly.

At the corporate level, we were also able to increase server capacity this week, to handle what has turned out to be a record month of site traffic for kgw.com.

Thanks for choosing us as your source for news during an amazing November - from flooding and record rain to windstorms, ice storms and snow. And thanks for being patient as we work out the remaining bugs with our site re-launch. We're gratified to have a record number of page views and unique users in November for our site content, and are committed to continuing to improve users' experience on our site from a technical standpoint.

Frank Mungeam, Internet Site Manager

11/21 update:

The biggest concern we've heard about our re-launched site has been the time it takes for the home page to load. I'm happy to report we implemented changes today that decreased the home page download time by 20 percent! We're not done, and hope to have a second phase of changes in place after the holiday that will further speed the page's download time. Just wanted to let you know we have heard your feedback and are working on it.

Of course, we continue to stomp out technical fires as we find them. Yesterday and today, a story page display problem cropped up where on some stories the page appears black where the story should be. Hitting the "refresh" button your browser will fix this for you, but of course we're working on making sure the story pages load properly the first time. Also, a few of our content pages come directly from the AP wires - our Nation/World section and our Entertainment section. On these pages, the text from the first story has been overlapping our top graphic. Again, we've noted this and the IT team is working on these display issues.

I'll continue to keep you posted here as we clean out the 'bugs' in our new home.

Frank Mungeam, Internet Site Manager

Original Entry, November 17, 2006

A few weeks ago, kgw.com re-launched its site with the first site-wide upgrade in more than three years.

In my previous blog, I described in detail the enhanced features of the new site, including imbedded video players, more video, more interactive features, and streamlined navigation.

Our users have loved our new video player imbedded on the home page, and the ten-fold increase in video clips available on the home page. This month, video views have doubled.

But loyal kgw.com visitors have encountered challenges on our new site, some foreseen and some unexpected. I'd like to talk about some of kgw.com's "growing pains" and let you know what we're doing about them.

Here are some of the comments, questions and concerns users have shared with me:

Your new site is confusing - I can't find anything!
Our loyal visitors knew their way around our previous web site. Overnight, we still had the same great team of writers and reporters, and even more video content...but the navigation and look of the site changed.
I liken it to moving into a great new house. In the long run, you're glad to have the benefits that come from a newer, better, bigger house. But in the short run, stuff is hidden away in boxes and you can't find it. The furniture is all the same, but it's in different places and it takes a while to get used to the newness.
We hope and believe that when the dust settles, the upgraded features of our 'new house' will be worth the initial confusion. And, from a navigation standpoint, we received lots of feedback before that our long list of 25 navigation links was way too much. We purposely tried to streamline our navigation, with just 8 core links at the top of the page. Check them out - you might like what you find!

The web site loads slowly
The web site does take longer to load than before. Part of that is on purpose: We have 'optimized' the web site for video and other broadband (high-speed) features. Portland is consistently at the top of lists of most wired cities and highest broadband penetration. Studies of our web site traffic reveal that more than 90% of our visits come from computers with a high-speed connection. The site is designed to provide a rich-media experience that takes advantage of the increasingly high-speed connections available.

However, we are not satisfied with the time our page takes to load and in the coming weeks we'll be making changes behind the scenes in our coding and design that should noticeably improve page-loading while maintaining our rich-media features.

What's with the site being off line?
I have the same question! Twice since October, our web site has been off line. No one is more upset about that than we are. The servers that host our site failed, and the best technical people we have are working to figure out why that happened and how to prevent it in the future.

Your video doesn't play on my computer / The page is displaying funny
We all use "browsers" to access and surf the internet. Internet Explorer is the most commonly used browser, and 70 percent of visitors to kgw.com use IE 6.0. Kgw.com was designed to work and display well in IE6 and it does.

Right after we launched our new site, Microsoft released an 'upgrade', Internet Explorer 7.0. In IE7, text on our story pages sometimes bled into pictures; we know about that conflict and are working to optimize the site for IE7 as well.

A small but loyal group of users visits our site and others using browsers like Firefox (9 percent) and Safari (3 percent.) We have received reports of video playback problems for some users of these browsers and are working on that as well.

We are eager to optimize our site for each of these browsers so you can enjoy our content no matter which browser you use. We've created a special email box where you can report 'browser' or page problems. Details, like the URL of the page that's not working, and even screengrabs, are very helpful. With your input, we can make the site look great on all these browsers. Shoot us a note at: webtek@kgw.com.

A page / link is broken
New or old, every site has broken links here and there. With more than a thousand pages of content on our site, some links inevitably break.

And we actually appreciate it when you tell us because it helps us find and fix those problem areas. You can report broken pages to us at webtek@kgw.com. In the category of "It would be funnier if it weren't true," the 'contact us' link was broken on our site for a few days! I'm happy to report that it has been fixed.

When I load the home page, I get the top banner but its black where the content should be...
Clicking the "refresh" button on your browser should solve this one. And the good news is that our content is there, you may just have to scroll down 'below the fold' to find it. This is an intermittent problem some folks are reporting. It's one element of our effort to optimize the site for the many browsers, and browser versions out there.

When I scroll down on the page, it displays all kinds of funny rows...
You're not dreaming and your computer is not broken. It takes 4-6 seconds for our home page to load on the average broadband connection.
If you wait until the page is finished loading, then "scroll" down, the pages work.
If you try to scroll down BEFORE the page is still loading, you'll see the funny rows until it finishes loading.

These are the most common questions and comments I've received so far. We are proud of kgw.com's tradition of online journalism excellence, and through this site change we've been reminded of what a loyal and passionate audience we have. We're committed to continuing to improve our web site to meet your needs. Please feel free to click on the comments button (below) and share your feedback, good and bad. And check back here - I'll share more of your comments and provide updates as we 'unpack the boxes' in our redesigned kgw.com house.

Regards,
Frank Mungeam
Internet Site Manager, kgw.com

Posted by Frank Mungeam | 12:19 PM | Comments (11)

October 11, 2006

Kgw.com gets a new look

by Frank Mungeam
Internet Site Manager, kgw.com

We're excited about the new features included in Thursday's 6:30 p.m. re-launch of kgw.com.

What hasn't changed is our commitment to be the leader in coverage of breaking news, led by the best staff of web writers at any local TV station - the very attributes that earned kgw.com the Edward R. Murrow Award for best TV news web site in the northwest region.

What has changed is a new focus on letting our visitors choose their news, and control their experience on our site.

You'll still find the top headlines of the day, as selected by our news team. But now visitors can also view a list of the day's most-read stories, reflecting which stories are most popular among our readers. In addition, we have a new section in NEWS called NEWS NEAR YOU. Here, you can choose a neighborhood like SW Portland or one of our major cities like Vancouver, Salem or Bend - and get news stories, weather and traffic specific to that area. These three options let you choose your news.

We've also added features that let you customize kgw.com for your preferences. You can choose to have "Headlines" displayed on the home page, or "Weather." A third option, "My kgw.com" allows you to create a home page that collects ALL your favorite web sites on a single page.

Along with our news content, we also recognize that we all need a little fun in our day. We've added two great new features to our Entertainment & Lifestyle section. New kgw.com entertainment reporter Drew Carney takes us "Out & About" every day to fun events in the Metro area in his web-exclusive videos. You can also join us for an "8 Break", our daily escape into the world of strange news and amazing videos.

Finally, we've tripled the amount of video available on our home page. We've also made it easier to choose your preferred video, with three separate categories: "News" video, most "Popular" video, and "Raw" video, where we'll feature extended and uncut scene video and interviews.

All these changes are designed to provide you with more news, and more choices in news. We hope you'll take a few minutes to use the Navigation tabs at the top of our home page to explore these new features.

Frank Mungeam

Posted by Frank Mungeam | 4:41 PM | Comments (8)

September 19, 2006

Tough call on airing Glenn 911 tape

Just before our early newscasts Monday afternoon we received a copy of Hope Glenn's desperate call to a 911 dispatcher. Her son, Lukus, was drunk, breaking windows and threatening to kill himself. I listened to the entire 10 minute call. It was hard to listen to it. Real hard.

We had to make a decision about how much of the call we would use on air and on kgw.com. When we face these journalistic questions, I often gather around several members of the editorial staff to discuss the issue and get different points of view. This time four or five of us listened to the call again, taking notes on the sections we knew we would include and putting question marks by the sections we wondered whether we should use.

The questionable section of the tape basically covered the last three minutes of the call. It was clear at that point that the situation at the Glenn house was getting worse. The anguish in Hope Glenn's voice was heartbreaking. Then you heard the shots, presumably first the bean bag shots and then the real bullets.

We decided to use excerpts from the early and middle part of the call which set up the events that unfolded that night. We wouldn't use the last few minutes when Hope Glenn's anguish reached a fever pitch and when you heard the bullets flying. Even a disclaimer that "the story contained graphic material" would not prepare the viewer at home for what they would hear. This section of the call could add little insight into what happened that night at the Glenn's Washington County home. We already knew how the confrontation ended. Using that part of the call would take advantage of a grieving mother who already regretted calling 911.

With stories like this, it is the media's job to ask the tough questions, to find out exactly what happened and why. It is not our job to shock and awe. That is how and why we decided to use most, but not all, of Hope Glenn's desperate call to the Washington County 911 Center.
- Rod Gramer, KGW Executive News Director

Posted by Rod Gramer | 4:38 PM | Comments (10)

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