What has changed most about the communications industry since you started?

Instantaneous communication and the need to be available 24/7.  The faster technology allows us to communicate, the more the expectation changes.  It can be overwhelming at times, but for the most part technology has made my job easier.  Whenever a new tool becomes available, I want to learn about it, figure out if it can help me or our clients, and if I can put it into practice, I will.  For example, I started using Pinterest last year to help me organize important websites for a multi-state legislative effort I manage.

What is a typical work day like for you in 2013 vs. 1988?

In 1988 I was responsible for all written communication entry at the company.  So when I arrived at the office I would go straight to my inbox – a physical inbox filled with the work that I needed to complete that day.  Each project had a slip of paper attached that listed the deadline and job number.  I would prioritize the contents of the basket, complete the work, and return it to whichever person assigned it to me.  I was busy most of the time, but a different kind of busy.

Now I have e-mails coming in at all hours of the day.  Prioritizing and shifting from project to project is necessary several times a day.  We rarely have handwritten requests for work; it is almost all e-mail or verbal.  When I started I was doing data entry all day long, and now I have a very diverse job description, which includes account management, client communications, research, drafting legislation, and lobbying.

What has been the most meaningful project you have worked on in your career at Goff Public?

My most energizing work has been managing a large-scale, multistate public affairs campaign for Polaris Industries in recent years.  Whether it’s passing a committee hearing or actually getting a signature from a governor, every single milestone is exciting.

Why have you stayed with Goff Public for 25 years?

When I started 25 years ago, I never expected that I would be with the company this long.  I expected that it would be an entry-level position for me, and that five years from that point I would be somewhere else, maybe even in a different industry.  I really enjoy working with the people who I work with.  I have had the opportunity to grow in my career.  After starting as a word processor, my job evolved into being the office manager in our San Francisco office, the office manager in Saint Paul, and now account work.  I have been managing accounts for the last 18 years, starting really small and growing into larger accounts.

What is your favorite Bob-ism?  (Bob Goff, our company founder, has a way with words.)

“Busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest.”  That accurately describes my day-to-day workload.

The Twin Cities radio scene experienced another format change this week.  What was once Rev 105, X105, Zone 105, V105, Drive 105, and most recently Love 105 is now 105 FM The Ticket.  The station joins KFAN and AM1500 as the third sports radio station in the Twin Cities, which is one of the smallest radio markets for like-sized cities in the country.

For now, the station will only air syndicated programs and there have not been any talks to create locally produced shows.  The question remains, with two other sports radio stations, is there enough talent – and desire for sports talk – to fill a third station?

For the media geeks out there, here is the history of the WGVX-call number, which has been home to nearly every radio format.

Just ask the question!

One of the biggest local headlines of the month was the University of Minnesota’s decision to fire its men’s basketball coach, Tubby Smith.  At the press conference, Star Tribune sports writer Sid Hartman reminded us in his not-so-subtle way that he’s a columnist with an opinion, not a reporter.  The legendary journalist grumbled multiple long-winded remarks at athletic director Norwood Teague, referring to Williams Arena as a “dump” and speculating that the Gophers would not be able to attract a quality coach for the job.  While many on social media initially lashed out against Sid for his behavior at the event, we might look back and say he was right – the Gophers had already been turned down by several of their top coaching candidates before settling on Richard Pitino on Wednesday.

Local producer punks California reporter

1500 ESPN producer Dana Wessel makes a lot of jokes on Twitter (@DanaWessel), and Elliott Almond of the San Jose Mercury News probably wishes he had been aware of that before he took one of Dana’s joke tweets as fact and wrote an article about it.  His tweet (below) cites an Obama quote which was never spoken.

• Obama to Landon Donovan: “You wanna take Air Force One to Mexico City? We can still make it. Just say the word.”

(Landon Donovan is a soccer player for the Los Angeles Galaxy.  His team visited the White House to celebrate their Major League Soccer championship.)

While rummaging through the Twittersphere for quotes from the event, reporter Elliott Almond stumbled upon the above tweet and wrote an article about it without verifying his source (the article has since been removed from the Mercury News website).  Elliott probably assumed that since the tweet came from a media person, it had to be true.  It was in fact, a complete joke.

Patch joins forces with a local TV station

As local television stations struggle to fill news holes with original local content, one Wisconsin station is taking a unique measure.  Viewers of WISN-TV in Milwaukee might have noticed a growing number of attributions to Patch in recent weeks.  That’s because WISN and Patch have an agreement to share news and information with each other, as long as they mention where the story came from.  Interestingly, the arrangement is simply a gentlemen’s agreement and does not involve money.  With 25 Patch sites now in the Twin Cities, I wonder if any of the TV stations here will follow Milwaukee’s lead.

Media grab bag

• KARE-11 received the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Political Journalism for its “Minnesota Marriage Debate” series, which was produced in partnership with Minnesota Public Radio.  The five-part series highlighted how the conflict over the marriage amendment was playing out in communities across the state.
• In March, Jeff Coolman resigned as general manager of ECM-Sun Newspapers, a position he had held for more than a decade.  ECM acquired Sun newspapers in January 2012 and now owns 51 community newspapers in Minnesota.
• KQRS Morning Show Host Tom Barnard announced at the end of March that he was seeking treatment for substance abuse.  Barnard will remain on the air while he is going through rehab.  Last summer Barnard made headlines when he started hosting a free one-hour podcast on weekdays.  His contract with KQRS goes through the summer of 2016.

Recently, Goff Public interviewed Ruben Rosario, the popular columnist for the Pioneer Press.  Since starting his column 16 years ago, Ruben has written thousands of memorable stories about remarkable Minnesotans – including himself.

Tell us about your career prior to arriving at the Pioneer Press.

I spent 11 years as a staff writer for the New York Daily News, mostly covering New York City police, law enforcement, organized crime and the courts.

How did your column come about?

I worked six years as city editor at the Pioneer Press, but I always missed writing.  I suggested a column in 1997, because I thought the Twin Cities needed a grittier column dealing with criminal justice and public safety issues.

What was your original vision for the column and how has your column changed over the years?

When the column first started, I profiled people and programs on the front lines of combating the root causes of violence.  It has broadened over the years to include social justice, human interest, immigration issues, and the occasional humorous themes of everyday life.

What types of stories do you like to tell in your columns?

I like to put a spotlight on the unsung ordinary people doing extraordinary things – the underdogs, those who are ignored and have little or no voice in society.

Print publications have been a revolving door for journalists over the last five to 10 years.  What has allowed you to be one of the “survivors”?

They can’t get rid of me, and I can’t find a job elsewhere.  Seriously, I have the best job in the newsroom, and so far, the paper is still a viable news information provider, particularly in the Twin Cities east metropolitan area.

What about being a newspaper journalist has changed the most since you first started?

The biggest change has been the technology and dramatic loss of newsroom resources due to the economic downturn in the industry in recent years.  Baby boomers are the last generation of habitual newspaper readers.  Folks are getting news in many different formats these days – computers, smartphones, tablets, etc.

What has not changed?

The need to listen, have good people skills, and have the ability to write well to tell a good story. There’s still quality journalism being done.  Proof of that is the annual book put out by the American Society of Newspaper Editors entitled America’s Best Newspaper Writing.

What is your philosophy on social media and new communications?

I think it’s great.  One of the constants in life is change.  Young journalists are being taught to blog, tweet, and shoot videos or pictures to help tell their story.  I actually believe the need to find quality journalists is greater now because the Internet has given birth to an unprecedented age of information that has also spawned the age of misinformation.  Sometimes, the junk I see on the Internet reminds me of Rocky and Bullwinkle’s Mister Know-It-All – who comes with an unlimited supply of misinformation.

What direction do you see print journalism taking in the next ten years?

Eventually, but not so quick as most people think, I envision major news print journalism will move entirely into the digital, electronic venue.

You have written some incredible personal stories in your columns – about your battle with cancer and you being a victim of child abuse.  Why have you chosen to make yourself the “main character” in some of your columns?  Was it a hard decision?

Actually, I have taken great pains to minimize the “I” in my columns over the years.  I prefer profiling people and using the human vehicle to illustrate a larger issue facing society.  I prefer reporting my columns rather than pontificating.  But I believe my cancer/childhood abuse are subjects that I needed to write about to add my voice along with those who deal with those two issues on a daily basis.

How has the community responded to the columns you have written about your personal life?  How has this impacted the decisions you make about your columns?

The responses have been humbling.  I received over a thousand e-mails and phone calls connected to my columns on cancer and my childhood trauma, mostly from survivors themselves or their family members.  

While Vine is most simply described as “Instagram for video,” I’ll go a little more in-depth.

Vine allows people with smart phones to capture six-second looping videos and share them on their social media pages.  Built to live in a mobile world, Vine videos have the look and feel of GIF files, as they loop automatically.  The videos can have more than one shot.  In fact, users can cram as many shots as they want into the six seconds.  Check out our Vine video to see this capability.

Now that we know what Vine is, let’s discuss what kind of impact it will make on the already-clogged social media universe.  While Vine will undoubtedly create more opportunities for people to cram their social media channels with videos of their cats, we believe it has the potential to leave a mark – especially in media and business circles.

Vine will make its greatest impact on the way news is gathered.  First there was Twitter (text), then there was Instagram (still photos).  Now with Vine, people can immediately share videos with social media followers.  News cameras can’t be everywhere.  That’s why this new app seems custom-made for citizen journalists and news organizations seeking access to real-time news.  Don’t be surprised if, in the near future, you see TV news stations using Vine to help tell stories, especially for unplanned and breaking news events.

Some companies have already added Vine to their social media arsenals.  Wheat Thins, GE and Red Vines have already posted promoted Tweets with Vine videos attached.  While Vine can be a fun and interactive mechanism for brands, it is also something companies should monitor closely.  A six second video is all it takes to harm an organization’s reputation.

Don’t worry about being an early adopter of this new technology if you don’t feel inspired.  But if you work in the news media or corporate branding, you might want to download the Vine app (it’s free) and familiarize yourself with it.  Already in the top 15 free downloads for Apple, Vine isn’t going anywhere, at least for now.

Most Minnesotans who had their TV sets on between 3:25 and 7:00 p.m. on December 30 were watching the Vikings squeeze into the playoffs by beating division rival Green Bay.  According to a Tweet by KSTP’s Darren Wolfson, adults ages 25-54 got a 35.0 rating and an 81 share.  This means that 81% of all the TV households in the Twin Cities market that were watching TV during this time were watching the game.  As Wolfson said, “The Super Bowl may not do that.”

Reporting on cold weather from a warm vehicle

Gone are the days of TV reporters standing outside in severe or bone-chilling weather – at least for WCCO.  When the Twin Cities got its first big snowstorm of the year on December 9, WCCO anchors tossed to reporter Reg Chapman, who was live in the field to report on road conditions.  But something was different about this report:  Reg actually looked comfortable.  He was in the back seat of a moving vehicle called the mobile weather watcher.  It’s a Chevy SUV equipped with a satellite dish and two cameras.  One camera shows the reporter’s face and the other shows a view out the front window of the vehicle as it navigates down city streets.

As a former TV reporter, I’ve never found it completely necessary for reporters to be outside during weather stories.  I think reporters can deliver live broadcasts just as accurately from inside a vehicle as they can while standing in the elements.  For the future well-being of all TV reporters and photographers, we hope this idea will catch on.

Daily newspapers look to shed space

As the newspaper industry shrinks, both the Star Tribune and Pioneer Press are reportedly looking to earn an extra buck on the properties they own.

The Star Tribune is working to sell some of its property to one of the largest developers in Minnesota.  Ryan Cos. is reportedly interested in purchasing four or five blocks of Star Tribune-owned land near the new Vikings stadium site.  The Minneapolis paper owns five blocks of land on the eastern edge of downtown, which has several parking lots and three buildings, including the Star Tribune headquarters.

On the other side of the river, the Pioneer Press is looking to lease or possibly sell some of its space in downtown Saint Paul.  As the paper consolidates staff and resources, it no longer needs to utilize its entire eight-story building on Cedar Street.

Comings and goings

There were several notable changes in the local news media this month.

• Morning show radio host and former Viking “superstar” Mike Morris was laid off by KFAN (100.3 FM) amid deeper cuts by the station’s parent company, Clear Channel Communications.  Morris, who was with KFAN for more than a decade, was likely the highest paid amongst his colleagues of “The Power Trip” morning show.
• In a similar story that was much less publicized, “Weasel” from the 93X (93.7 FM) morning show was also let go.  He was part of the “Weasel, Nick and Josh” triumvirate for at least a decade.
• John Hanson left KSTP’s Twin Cities Live at the end of the year.  Hanson, who has hosted the show since its launch in 2008, is moving to Kansas City, where he will be the program director at a sports radio station.  Hanson’s co-host Elizabeth Ries told Goff Public the search for a replacement has already begun.
• Ian Punnett, longtime host of myTalk 107.1’s “Ian and Margery Show” has left the show for health reasons.  Punnett, who has been with the station for a decade, battles tinnitus, which creates headaches and a constant buzzing in one’s ears.
• Another local TV personality is adding radio to her resume.  KARE’s weekend anchor Rena Sarigianopoulos has joined her KARE colleague Eric Perkins as co-host of the K-TWIN (96.3 FM) weekday morning show.

Who has the most Twitter followers in MN news media?

MinnPost set out to find which Minnesota journalists are most popular (by Twitter standards), and found that Michael Russo (@Russostrib), NHL reporter for the Star Tribune, takes the cake.  As of the writing of this blog entry, Russo had 35,991 followers.  Click here to see David Brauer’s full list.

Q & A with Elizabeth Ries, host of Twin Cities Live and MyTalk 107.1 FM

Recently, Goff Public sat down with Elizabeth Ries, the upbeat co-host of Twin Cities Live who wears many hats, including radio personality (MyTalk 107.1 FM) and blogger (Home to Homestead).  The Apple Valley native started her career as a news anchor in Duluth and Green Bay before being hired as a news reporter at KSTP in 2008.  She became the co-host of Twin Cities Live in 2009.

1) How did you get your position with Twin Cities Live?

Twin Cities Live was looking for a reporter.  I was reporting for the KSTP morning show and filling in on Twin Cities Live, so I approached Mandy Tadych (the executive producer for Twin Cities Live) and asked her if she thought I should pursue the reporter position.  She said “Yes.”  But after several meetings, the decision was made by Rob Hubbard, the general manager at KSTP, to offer me the host position.  I said “What?!”  I think it was good timing.  I’m always preparing myself for the next opportunity, and I was definitely ready for this.  It just happened to work out beautifully.

2) How does your background in covering daily news help you in your current position?

It was a transition, but I was ready for something different.  My favorite thing when I was in news was either live shots or anchoring.  I loved the adrenaline rush.  For me, I looked at my transition to Twin Cities Live like moving to an hour-long live shot, which sounded like so much fun to me.  In news, my job was to report stories.  Here my job is to be myself, which is very liberating.  Being in news taught me to think on my feet, to love the adrenaline rush, and to understand the technicalities of live television.  Moving to Twin Cities Live has been great.  I feel very lucky to do what I do.  I don’t take it for granted and it’s just wonderful to be able to do this job in my home town.

3) Take us through a day in the life of Elizabeth Ries.

Currently I’m filling in on the Ian and Margery show on MyTalk 107.1.  That show is from 5:30-7 a.m.  So I wake up at about 5:15.  I have a digital line at my house so I can dial in from home with radio quality sound.  I dial in at about 5:25 and I’m on the radio from 5:30 to 7.  Then I go outside and let my chickens out.  I dedicate the 7 to 8 o’clock hour to cleaning out the chicken coop, working on my blog, which is all about my adventures in urban farming, and getting other things done around the house.  Then I’m back on MyTalk 107.1 from 8:20 to 8:30 for the Dirt Alert.  Then if I don’t have any promo shoots, I usually go to the gym and get ready and come into the office around 10:30.  But if I have a shoot, I’ll just get ready and go wherever I need to go.  After that I’m in the office preparing for the show and answering e-mails.  At 12:20 I’m back on the radio for the noon Dirt Alert.  I do that from the KSTP studio.  After that I focus on that day’s show.  I usually go downstairs to get ready in makeup and hair around 2:15.  Show time is from 3 to 4.  After each show we have a post-show meeting at 4:30 to go over the next day’s show.  5:20 is my last radio cut-in.  Sometimes if I can scoot out of here at ten to 5, I’ll race home to dial in for that.  If not, I do it from the office.  Some days there are appearances at night, some days there aren’t.  My professional life is busy, but I like everything I’m doing.  Plus, at this point in my life, I don’t have kids and I have the luxury of being able to commit myself fully to work.  When the day comes that I have to split my focus between work and a family, I hope that I will have worked so hard and invested so much and become so valuable, that I’ll have the ability to step back a little bit.

4) Your job requires you to be happy a lot.  Are there ever any days when you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and have trouble acting happy on your daily live TV and radio broadcasts?

I am a very happy person.  I look at this job with a lot of gratitude.  Every day I wake up and I think, “I get to go to work and do what I’ve always wanted to do.”  I know a lot of people don’t get to say that.  However, sometimes I do feel overwhelmed.  I have a lot of commitments.  But I surround myself with really supportive people and great co-workers and it makes each day great.  I really don’t get grumpy.  I don’t want to spend my time being in a bad mood.  That’s just not how I’m going to live my life.

5) Friday’s Twin Cities Live shows are filmed before of a live studio audience.  How do you like doing your job in front of people?

I love the show either way.  I don’t necessarily think it makes a huge difference in terms of how I approach the show.  I love it when the audience is there, but I don’t really look at them that often because I’m looking at the camera and I’m thinking about everybody at home.  The fun part about it for me is getting the instant feedback from the audience.  When they’ll laugh at something that I thought was funny, or when they have a reaction to something, that’s always reassuring.  Or sometimes they won’t laugh at something that I find funny.  Getting their reaction is the most interesting part for me.

6) What is your philosophy on social media?

I think you have to be careful to not let social media take over your life, so I try to set some limits with it.  I tweet and Facebook regularly but I’m certainly not the most active social media user of Minneapolis media.  That award goes to Jason DeRusha (@DeRushaJ).  There’s a good side and a bad side to social media.  The up side is that it allows you to be up close and personal with people who are watching, listening and reading.  The down side is that it allows you to be up close and personal with the people who are watching, listening and reading.  I wish people would be a little more thoughtful in terms of what they would send to me and anybody else.  I think the level of access we have to people combined with the level of anonymity that is available to people when they are hiding behind a computer screen can be a dangerous combination.  On the other hand, it allows me to find out what people think and have viewers write me and say, “I know you’re really into chickens, Elizabeth.  I thought you might like this article.”  I love that.  That’s the best part about social media.

7) Twin Cities Live has been on the air for nearly five years.  Why do you think it has been successful and relevant?

We have a great staff, we work very hard, and the Hubbard Family (Hubbard Broadcasting owns KSTP) has a great commitment to local programming.  There are shows like ours in other markets that don’t have the staff size we have and just simply aren’t able to put on the kind of quality program that we believe we have.  That’s a real blessing.  I have been delighted to see that people are attracted to something positive on television.  Obviously the news can tend to be somewhat negative simply because that’s the reality of what news is.  When it comes to talk shows it’s easy to focus on the negative.  But that’s not what we do at Twin Cities Live.  We’re about food, fashion and fun.  We want to highlight great things that are happening in the community and we want to have a really good time doing it.  I hope people enjoy watching (my co-host) John Hanson and me, and I hope they will give us a chance to see how we build the show around whoever ends up sitting in the co-host chair next.  (Side note:  John Hanson is leaving the show at the end of this year.)

The concept of students providing content for professional news outlets is not new.  UTVS, the student-run TV station at St. Cloud State University, has generated video stories for the St. Cloud Times website for several years.  Arizona State University’s Cronkite News is arguably the most successful program in the nation, as students publish dozens of multimedia (print and video) stories per week.  Keith Moyer, U of M senior fellow and co-director of MNS (also the former publisher of the Star Tribune), says Cronkite News served in part as the model for the U of M program.

MNS partners with a number of newspapers in Minnesota, including the St. Cloud Times, Southwest Journal, Downtown Journal, Swift County Monitor, and ECM Publishers, which operates 51 publications in Minnesota and western Wisconsin.  Moyer says the goal of MNS is to give aspiring journalists the opportunity to have practical experience beyond the classroom, enhance their portfolios, and increase their chance of finding a job in the news media after graduation.  The program currently serves about a dozen students and generates 25-30 stories per semester.

Student writers for MNS attend weekly staff meetings and are required to meet deadlines, just like professional reporters.  When a newspaper assigns stories to students, they are responsible for arranging and conducting interviews, writing the stories, and budgeting their time in order to meet their deadline.  Each story is edited at least twice before it is sent to the paper, so Moyer says readers can be assured that the stories adhere to high journalistic standards.  Currently MNS students are not paid for their work (they can receive one credit if they choose), but Moyer says the hope is that students will eventually be compensated a small amount per story.

“When students get their first byline, it’s like a child opening their favorite present on Christmas,” Moyer said.

Moyer says the first year of MNS has been successful, and they are set up nicely for future growth.  We don’t expect this type of service to disappear any time soon, as understaffed news organizations with shrinking budgets will gladly reap the benefits of the free service.  We like the concept of MNS because it better prepares students for the real world.  Students working in real life situations under the tutelage of experienced journalists like Moyer will allow students to polish their craft before graduating.  But as news media outlets rely more on interns, freelancers, and college students to provide content, what does this mean for the future of journalism?  Let us know your thoughts on the Goff Public Facebook page.

Since Election Day is tomorrow, we thought it would be appropriate to feature a political reporter on this installment of “Goff Public Grills a Reporter.”  Recently we sat down with Minnesota Public Radio political reporter Tom Scheck.  Tom started at MPR in 2000 as a health reporter, but gradually started covering politics when Jesse Ventura was governor.  (MPR expanded its political staff in order to properly cover the unpredictable ways of “The Body”).  He is known for fair reporting and has gained a great deal of respect from legislators and staffers from both political parties.

1.)  Tell me about your background in journalism.

When I was in college at Syracuse University, I wanted to be a TV sports reporter because it has a very good sports journalism program.  I got a sports internship at a TV station in Philadelphia, and within three days I realized it wasn’t what I wanted to do.  I love sports, but I couldn’t envision myself interviewing athletes who don’t want to talk to me and would give cliché answers every day.

After my failed experiment in sports reporting, my dad suggested that I volunteer at a public radio station, which had just opened in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  On my second day, I was asked to cover a local story and ended up doing that every day of my internship.

After college, I got a job as a reporter for Indiana Public Radio.  I eventually decided that it was time to make the jump to a larger market.  I was offered jobs at a couple public radio stations, including at MPR.  Most public radio stations have just a handful of employees, but when I toured MPR, I was blown away.  It had about 45 newsroom employees at the time.  It felt like a real newsroom.

2.)  Media organizations, especially public radio stations, are often accused of having a liberal bias.  How do you respond to these accusations?

I think public radio historically is perceived as more liberal.  Conservatives are more wary of the government funding public radio receives, but you could throw a rock in our newsroom and you’re just as likely to hit a Republican as you are a Democrat.  It’s hard enough to gather the facts, write the story, and meet the deadline, so how could we possibly have time to slant our stories in either direction?

3.) What about journalism has changed the most since you started your career?

Technology.  My obituary will say that I was the last human being to ever cut tape for radio stories.  I did that in 1998.  Now we don’t even have tape recorders anymore.  It’s all digital.  We used to just broadcast stories on the radio.  Now we can share information on our website, blogs, Twitter, and Facebook.

In 1995 I needed to access the Unibomber’s Manifesto for a paper I was working on as a student at Syracuse.  When I went to the campus library to get a copy of the Washington Post, which published the full Manifesto, the librarian told me it had been stolen, so I thought, what am I going to do?  A girl that I knew suggested that I look it up on the Internet.  I said, “What the hell is the Internet?”  So she took me to the computer cluster and showed me the Internet.  I was blown away – I could look up baseball scores on there!  I went to my journalism class the next day and asked my professor if he thought we could ever get news on the Internet.  He said, “Absolutely not because you can’t take a computer on the toilet with you.”  That wasn’t even 20 years ago.  This professor who was paid to teach journalism at one of the best schools in the country couldn’t even foresee the power of the Internet.

4.)  What are your thoughts on using of social media (Facebook and Twitter) in reporting and journalism?

I’m an early adopter of social media.  It’s a great way for people to send me story ideas.  If you’re a journalist and you’re not on Twitter right now, you’re crazy.  There are so many stories that are broken on Twitter that you don’t see elsewhere.  If you’re a business reporter, you better be following other business reporters and the PR people in all of the major shops in town.  Otherwise you’re going to miss something.

5.)  What is the most challenging part about covering politics?

The instantaneous push back.  As soon as my stories are made public, I often receive phone calls from political staffers telling me why they’re not happy with my story.  My philosophy is to listen to everyone and be fair when writing the story.  But at some point the story gets written, and you may not like part of it because your guy or gal looks bad.

Uncovering the truth can also be difficult.  You have Democrats who don’t want to say they want to raise taxes, but you know they do, so they dance around it.  Then you have Republicans who say we can balance the budget without raising taxes, but we’re not going to tell you how.  So that’s challenging.  You write stories saying, “Joe Politician has ideas, but would not share his plan with us.”  This often upsets people on either side.

6.)  Limiting your response to retired public officials, what elected or appointed officials in your experience best understood the role you and the Capitol press corps play?

I like public officials who are responsive.  We live in a deadline world, so if you know we want to talk to you, have a statement prepared or be ready to answer our questions.  If you’re not going to comment on something, just tell us.  It’s just common courtesy because all that does is make me late.

Tim Pawlenty’s shop was always good with the media.  His [deputy] chief of staff Brian McClung was great with the media because he’s a former reporter who understands the business.  They knew their message really well.  Jesse Ventura’s former spokesperson John Wodele was also good.  He had a challenging job, because of Ventura.  My sense was that they crafted the message a lot earlier in the process and then pushed it out to the media ahead of time to minimize surprises.

I covered Ventura’s bad years, not the honeymoon.  MPR decided that we had to cover everything Jesse did because we had no idea what he was going to do.  If Pawlenty or Dayton attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony, their staffers would tell you to not worry about covering it, because it was just going to be a standard ribbon-cutting.  But you never knew when Ventura was going to say something ridiculous.  We didn’t want to miss anything.

While political ads can be unpopular for viewers, local television stations view them interchangeably with dollar signs.  Between now and November 6, it’s safe to assume that every available television advertising spot will be purchased by political campaigns.  If presidential elections took place annually, local TV stations probably wouldn’t be struggling nearly as much.

While television remains the dominant medium for campaign messaging, more candidates are bringing their advertisements online because an increasing number of viewers are skipping commercials with DVRs or watching TV online.  According to comScore, an all-time high of 188 million Internet users in the United States watched 37.7 billion online videos in August, with 9.5 billion video ads viewed.  We expect online advertising to make an even greater impact on future elections.

Major office downgrade for local newspaper

The Hudson Star Observer announced it’s moving to a space that’s 98% smaller than its longtime downtown location.  According to original reports, newsroom staff at the 150-year-old newspaper in Hudson, Wisconsin, will work from home and operations will be moved to River Falls.  The paper’s new office is just 215-square-feet, compared to its former 15,000-square-foot location.  Newspaper management says nothing will change for readers.

This is an example of a traditional newspaper adopting the Patch work-from-home model.  In these challenging times, some small newspapers are opting to downgrade facilities and have their reporters, editors, and advertising staff work from home.  Don’t be surprised if local newspapers in Minnesota start making similar moves.

WCCO’s new set

WCCO's new set

In WCCO-TV’s first newscast with its new set (which has received mixed reviews), it spent part of the show taking viewers on avirtual tour of the newly-renovated space.  It’s obvious the folks at WCCO are quite proud of their new set, so it got us to wondering, do viewers really care about the visual appearance of a news set?  Our research has found that they do.  Since TV is a visual medium, viewers are likely to be drawn to attractive sets and graphics.  There are many examples of new sets providing a boost in ratings.  Otherwise, stations wouldn’t spend the money to update their sets and every station would look like Channel 4, the home of Ron Burgundy.

Anchorman’s Ron Burgundy at a 1970s throwback news set

A moment of silence

If you’re not sold on the idea that reality television is taking over the world, perhaps you weren’t watching the Today show on September 11, 2012, at 8:46 a.m., the exact time when the first plane hit the World Trade Center towers in 2001.  While almost every other network interrupted programming to honor the anniversary, NBC decided its viewers would rather watch Kris Jenner talk about her breast implants.  NBC’s decision (or lack thereof) dominated the headlines for several days.  Jenner was reportedly very upset about the network’s decision, and NBC has since apologized.

While it has been 11 years since the 9/11 tragedy, we believe it is the responsibility of the media to do its small part and properly honor the families of those who lost their lives.  Something tells us that NBC won’t miss next year’s moment of silence.

Recently, Goff Public sat down with Boyd Huppert, who has been a television reporter at KARE-11 since 1996.  Best known as the voice of KARE’s popular weekly feature, “Land of 10,000 Stories,” Boyd is nationally renowned for his superior writing and storytelling abilities, and has received dozens of awards, from Emmys to Murrows.  He shared with us his behind-the-scenes, veteran insights on the changing world of local television news reporting.

In an industry where reporters come and go, you have been a mainstay at KARE-11.  What has allowed you to remain successful and happy in your career?

I think that’s your nice way of saying “I’m old.”  I think I’ve remained happy because new challenges have come along at just the right times for me.  KARE is my fourth television station.  I’ve been here for 16 years, and I’ve been reenergized many times during my tenure.  About a year ago, the station relaunched the “Land of 10,000 Stories” segment that I used to do on an occasional basis.  Now it’s a weekly feature, and I love doing those pieces.  I’m having more fun now than I’ve ever had working in television.

I love working with great photographers, which we’re blessed to have at KARE.  Every story is still a challenge.  I try to find a better way to tell it, shoot it, and write it – that’s my idea of fun.  If I didn’t do this for a living, I think I’d be doing it as a hobby because I enjoy the creative process so much.  I think if you can say that about your job, you’re in a pretty good spot.

What, in your opinion, is the recipe for a perfect story?

I have a pretty loose definition of what makes a perfect story.  It’s less about the subject than it is about the characters.  I search for stories that will touch emotions, happiness, sadness, or anger.  People connect with these types of stories.  Good stories generally start with good characters – somebody that you can relate to.  I look for people who are passionate about the things that they’re involved in.  I can usually tell in the first few minutes of a phone conversation if somebody is that type of person.

What about TV reporting has changed the most since you first started?

Technology.  When I think back to the way we used to do our jobs, I don’t know how we did it.  I remember stopping at gas stations to use the pay phone to try to set up stories from the field.  I would feed quarters into the pay phone, make calls, and then drive to the next town and stop at another gas station and make more calls.  If we weren’t too far from the station we could use our two-way radio to call the assignment desk and they could call for me.  Just talking about it boggles my mind.

I didn’t use a computer at work until I got to my third station.  We didn’t have Google or other online tools to fact check.  I memorized the number for Ready Reference.  Does that even exist anymore?

I lived through it, and yet I can’t imagine what being a television reporter was like before the Internet.  As I’m writing my stories, Google is always open on my computer so I can fact check things that people have told me, double-check spellings, or research other facts.  The Internet is an incredible journalistic tool that many reporters now take for granted.

What about being a television reporter has not changed during your time in the industry?

I think being a good writer has always been valued.  I had a brief stint anchoring the weekend news in Wausau.  I didn’t like it, and it didn’t like me.  I decided that when it came time to move on to a larger market, that I’d just concentrate on reporting because that’s what I love.

When I talk to journalism students, I tell them to try to find their niche.  Bernie Grace, who covered the crime beat at KARE for years; Caroline Lowe, who covered the same beat at WCCO; and Pat Kessler, who covers politics for WCCO are great examples of reporters who are incredibly valuable to their TV station because they have found their niche and are good at it.  I tell students that it’s good to be okay at a lot of things, but you really need to find something that you’re particularly good at and be the best at it in town.  That’s how you achieve success and longevity.

How did you learn to tell stories so well?

I learned a lot about storytelling elements when my photographer colleagues dragged me to National Press Photographers Association workshops many years ago.  I learned a lot about character development, surprise, and plotline.  I thought that stuff was only pertinent to movie directors and novelists, but I found that they also apply to journalism because it’s another way to tell stories.  Human beings are wired for stories.  It’s the reason we buy millions of dollars of books as a country, go to movies, and tell stories around the dinner table.  Once I figured out how to tell a story, I reached a whole new level of job satisfaction.

How would you describe your ability to adapt to new communications technologies?

I’m definitely not an early adapter, but I’ve seen the power of social media.  I’m just starting to dabble in Twitter a little bit, but I’m now fully immersed in Facebook.  When I first started with Facebook, I gently put my toe in the water, and the water went up to my knees.  Now it’s up to my ears.  I love interacting with viewers at a level that I’ve never been able to before.  KARE has really encouraged us to have that dialogue with our audience.  Facebook allows us to find interview subjects, get feedback on stories, and get story ideas.

Last Christmas there was a big storm coming in, and I needed to find somebody who was traveling for the holidays.  I put a note out on Facebook and a dozen people responded.  I don’t know what I would have done otherwise to find someone, but now there’s this group of several thousand friends that I can immediately reach to get information or find a subject.  We did a piece last year about how the events of 9/11 changed people’s lives.  We found all of the subjects through Facebook.  We posted the question, and chose people to feature based on the hundreds of responses we received.  Social media is a great tool.

What direction do you see television news taking in the next 10 years?

I’m very excited about the future, but I’d be lying if I said I was this optimistic three or four years ago.  Like a lot of industries, we went through some pretty dark days during the recession, but I look around at my environment here at KARE, and it has gotten better.  We have a new news director, Jane Helmke, and I think she has us going in a good direction.  I also see some good things happening at Gannett (KARE’s owner).

Another reason to be optimistic is that people are still buying television sets, and they’re buying better sets than we’ve ever seen, with beautiful high definition pictures.  Ratings for events like the Olympics and the Super Bowl are unprecedented, so all we need to do is provide good programming and there will be an audience for it.  We’ve been through a lot of cost-cutting, and I think the lesson is, if we don’t provide good news content, there are plenty of other places people can go to get their news.  I think that lesson hasn’t been lost on the people making the decisions at local television stations.  We have to provide good content.