Daniel_Haggerty's Blog

.......like it needs another Jason Blair scandal.

Come on. This is the face of journalism we're going to show young people.

The Hills meets Broadcast News?

I don't remember my high school newspaper throwing parties like that.

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Hey there!

We have a new video player over on WPRI.com and it has some great new sharing options.

For example, now you can get the code to embedd one of our videos into your blog/social networking site/ webpage/ ect.

Very cool stuff. So start sharing!!

This is one of my favorite stories from one of the masters of story telling.

It is a segment from the TV version of the NPR radio show This American Life.

I there are several important issues for my craft that are encapsulated in this story.

Let me know what you think.

Okay, so every day I love to watch this show. I came across it cruising one of my favorite websites a while back and its become a daily take-five for me. I love the format and the site is a great place to see what's evolving in the online community. Enjoy.

So, as I wrote in my last post I've been working to build more interactive elements into my stories.

Well yesterday I made another large step in that direction.

I built and interactive page with profiles of Rhode Island's most infamous corrupt officials.

Now, I have to admit that the finished page isn't the most amazing thing that you'll be able to find on the interenet, but I feel that its a huge achievement for our websites and my position. Trust me folks. This is just the begining. I've got some cool stuff I want to do with this technology.

Here is the link. Let me know what you think.

 http://www.wpri.com/Global/story.asp?S=8019280&nav
=menu20_3_2

Also I am happy to annouce that my favorite website (Multimedia Shooter) is back up and running. Last week the site was hacked and shut down. I was devastated.  This site has been a source of inspiration and has helped me really figure out how to take my position to the next level. Below is a video of the guy who runs the site rebuildinging it.

I am really greatful for his efforts.

So I've been messing with some interactive features with my last few stories and I was interested to see with you think.

The first is a series I did about some interesting aspects of Providence. Mainly it's strong artist community and bike messengers. I had been trying to do the bike messenger story for a few years now but never seemed to find the time. I was extremely please with how it turned out.

I embedded that segement and several others into an interactive google map. You can click various points in the map and a bubble will pop up with video in it. Here is the link.

http://www.wpri.com/Global/story.asp?S=7890647&nav=
menu20_3_2

I also did a series on the very strong Liberian community in Rhode Island. Many of its members are giving statements to a Truth and Reconciliation Commission that is trying to document and then repair their country after years of bloody civil conflict. Their statments where extremely powerful and I was in complete awe of the horrible things they described to me. I also got to try Liberian food. Its quite good and I highly recommend that you try it. Here is the link.

http://www.wpri.com/Global/story.asp?S=7940986&nav=
menu20_3_2

Finally I had the opportunity to do some really great elections coverage. My role on election day was to keep an eye on the polls and document any problems that we heard about. I only came across two problems that day and I was extremely proud that I was able to post those stories to our website before we reported it on TV. It is one of my major goals to provide a serious value to our visitors and getting that information posted as soon as it happened I think did that. Here is the link.

http://www.wpri.com/Global/story.asp?S=7992721&nav=
menu20_3_2

I spent the last part of the week trying to build an interactive map with all the polling stations and their results but wasn't able to make it work in a timely manner. I finally had to ask our webmaster Bruce to take look at the code and tell me what I did wrong. If he's able to decode my mess I will add this map to that page.

Thats it for me. Let me know if you like the "interactive" features of these stories or if you just want me to go back to doing video segments.

Regards

Dan

I've got a couple of stories that might be of some interest today.

Today is 2/11 and the United Way is using this date as an opportunity to promote their 211 Hotline. This is a great one-point-of-entry for social services and I did a story about their call center a few weeks back. Here is the link.

http://www.eyewitnessnewstv.com/global/video/popup/
pop_player.asp?ClipID1=2105315&h1=Dan%20Haggerty%20Repo
rts%3A%20A%20New%20Place%20to%20Find%20Help&vt1=v&at1=_
Health%20-%20ADHD&d1=92100&LaunchPageAdTag=_Health%20-%
20ADHD&activePane=info&playerVersion=1&hostPageUrl=http
%3A//www.eyewitnessnewstv.com/Global/story.asp%3FS%3D78
33036&rnd=61245722

Also, with all the cold weather it looks like we are going to have to endure this week I thought you might find my "Are You Ready for this Winter" series interesting. Here is the link to that.

http://www.eyewitnessnewstv.com/Global/story.asp?S=
7590929

Hope you find these interesting.

Stay safe and warm.

Dan

I did a story yesterday about the 211 Hotline in Rhode Island. This hotline was started in June of last year and they are trying to be the single-point-of-entry for social services in the state.

I had heard a little about it and was interested in doing a story for the last few months. So when the EMA directed people to the toll-free number during this week's snow storm, I knew I had a timely angle to pursue.

According to the people I talked to, it can be tough to figure out where to go for help. They said the social services network can be pretty confusing and people can spend alot of time getting transferred from agency to agency just trying to get the right assistance.

The hope is that people can now just call 211 or head to www.211ri.org and find out exactly where to go.

The call specialists seemed to be well trained. They were knowledgable about how to navigate the services and did a good job of lending an ear to a number of callers who seemed to just want to have someone to talk to about their problems.

I was please at the opportunity to finally do the story and look into how this organization is helping people.

You can find it on my homepage: http://www.danhaggertynews.com

I hope you enjoy it.

Alright,

So I know that I haven't been the most diligent blogger out there. I just can't seem to find the time.

But I've decided to try again, and I'm going to write shorter posts as a way to reduce the commitment of time.

 Here it goes.....

Today we began planning some really innovative web-coverage of this weekend's Patriots game.

Courtney Caliguiri (our intrepid Web Reporter)  and I are going to be at Gillette Stadium on Sunday  talking with fans and giving you an inside look at what its like to be there on game day.

Nobody else is trying this stuff folks! Our station is doing some really originals stuff with our websites and this is just one example.

We'll be producing lots of content all day so check in before the game to see what all the crazy fans are doing and how Courtney and I are staying warm.

Well,

It seems like I'm finally settling back in after my exciting trip to Denver. I only have a couple of quick updates for you and here they are.

First: I now have my own, easy-to-remember, web address. It is

www.danhaggertynews.com

All you have to do is type that into your web browser and you will always be quickly direct straight to my homepage. And if you wanted to make that you're homepage I would be opposed to that.

Second: I have also set up a new message board where you can easily leave me any questions or comments you have about any of the stories I've done. I will do my best to respond. You can find a link to this message board on my homepage which you can easily access (are you sensing a theme yet?)  by following the link above.

And that's it for now.

Regards

Dan

Hello everybody,

I have posted a few new stories since my last post and I wanted to let you know how everything was going.

The most recent story is about a coffee shop on Thayer Street in Providence. They have a unique business model where they allow customers to vote for four different charities. At the end of their fiscal quarter the owners take 10% of their profits and donate it proportionally to the four charities.

The business and its charities are dedicated to the liberal end of politics and I knew this would pose a challenge. I felt the story was interesting enough to warrant coverage (so did Vanity Fair, The Providence Journal, and The Hartford Courrant), but I wanted to make sure that my piece didn't give favoritism to one side. My concern was that by the very nature of  doing the story I was giving good press to the business and its political interests.

I decided that the newsworthy aspect of the story was the unique business model. According to one of the shops owners I talked to, there is no other business out there that is doing this. I thought that if I maintained this focus I could be fair in my coverage.

To further balance the story I contacted the Rhode Island GOP to see if they had any ideas.

I spoke with the RI GOP's press officer Donna Perry and she said there was not a conservative business that  I could do a direct counter-story on. Rhode Island is a very, very "blue state" and I had figured this might be the case.

So, I did the story, posted it and figured I would give the RI GOP a chance to comment on tape if they wanted.

In order to provide more transparency I also created a discussion board specifically linked to this story.

That was not the hardest part of this story though. The day I was supposed to post it I lost the entire edited video-story and had to frantically re-edit that afternoon.

Then I couldn't get the video from the camera's memory cards to the computer (oddly the last step in my editing process). I spent a couple of hours trying to figure it out, stumped the guy on the help line, and finally figured out the problem after 8pm that night. Almost 2 hours past my deadline.

Despite the challenges, I think the video story came out well. I kept my focus on the business model, and the natural sound really made it move.

Here is the link: http://ww2.wpri.com/Global/story.asp?S=7002974

Before that I posted a story on a unique fundraiser put on by the Rhode Island Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

It was a contest where teams of twenty competed in pulling a 727 FedEx jet 12 feet down the tarmac at T.F. Green Airport. The story was alot of fun and I found two teams that really made the story interesting.

 I honestly didn't think the plane was going to be that big when I got the press release and when I saw it in person I thought there was no way anybody could move it. They did, and it made for a very visual story with lots of great natural sound. My favorite!

Here is the link to that story: http://www.eyewitnessnewstv.com/Global/story.asp?S=69
74397

As I progress, I am trying new things with my stories. I have begun to add extended interviews, links within the text, and message boards. We are also looking into a mapping system that could be pretty neat.

Earlier this week I participated in the LIN TV Day of Caring. It was a volunteer event put on by my station where employees built a utility shed and did some landscaping for the Meeting Street School.

Meeting Street is a special school dedicated to kids with disabilities and it has been one of the primary non-profits our station has partnered with.

Our community affairs director asked if I would cover the event for the website and I decided to try something a little different.  As my coworkers built the shed, I positioned my camera up on a small hill above them and recorded all day using time-lapse photography. This is where the camera takes one shot every 30 seconds for the whole nine hours I was there. It was the first time I had tried it and the finished product looked great!

Since I didn't have to man the camera, I spent the first part of the day editing the Coffee Shop story on my laptop in the news truck. Then in the afternoon the volunteer base had thinned and I spent the last few hours helping shingle the roof.

The time-lapse photography worked great and I found some really awesome music to put under it.

Here is the link to the video: http://managewpri.worldnow.com/Global/Video/WorldNowA
SX.asp?ClipID=1706677&ClientSkip=Yes

I am still working on my story with the Canteen Trucks. I have shot some good stuff so far but I have been trying to be at the station when they get a call.

After 4 or 5 days of waiting, I have developed a reputation as the safest thing that has ever happened to the local community. I usually go down there in the afternoons and work on my latest story while I wait for them to get a call. It has yet to happen, but I'm determined to get the moment.

Last weekend I shot a really great story about a local kickball league(like you used to play in elementary school) and I will start logging and writing it tomorrow. The players are some really wacky characters and I hope I can do them justice.

Here is a link to their website: http://providencekickball.org/

So that's the latest. Hope you are enjoying the stories. Let me know what you think.

Regards

Dan

Hello everybody!

I just wanted to give you the latest update on what I'm doing.

We'll, I've spent the last few days fine-tuning my equipment with our support team and I think we've got it down. Now I've just got to go out there and use it! So I found a story this week that I think will be perfect.

This one is for all the fans of the FOX show "On the Lot". Its a contest where 48 teams of local filmmakers have 48 hours to write,cast,shoot and edit a short film! And to make it even more interesting, at the begining of the weekend the teams have to draw a theme for their story out of a hat!

So I'm planning to follow several teams over the weekend, and post the story early next week before the screening of all the finish films on Wednesday and Thursday. Then, after the screening we are going to work on getting the teams to post their movies on our Local Focus page for you to watch!

Aside from that, I'm working on several other stories. Hopefully, the next one will be about the Canteen Trucks run by the local Salvation Army. They show up to all major emergency scenes in Rhode Island and provide food, water and other services to the responders and victims.

Most of the last week was taken up by writing, shooting and editing a segment for our Fall Preview. This is when we invite all of our advertisers to the local IMAX theatre and we pitch what the station has to offer. Since our company is really focused on our websites I was asked to put together a little video sales-pitch. It turned out pretty good and it gave me a chance to try out some cool stuff with my new editing software. I was a little worried that it might seem kind of "over-done" but I figured, if you're gonna do it, you might as well go big. I still have to decide if I'm going to post it.

Anyway that's it for now. I will have another update soon showing off all the new features on my homepage, so stay tuned.

Regards

Dan Haggerty

Hey everybody!

I have my own homepage now!

Here's the link

http://www.eyewitnessnewstv.com/Global/Category.asp
?c=105758

Check it out and let me know what you think of all the features.

You'll also be able to find it on our homepage at:

wpri.com

Just click on the button with my picture in it.

Regards

Dan

Alright,

Here it is! All the cool new gear my station has been so gracious to outfit me with. They've given me some of the coolest, newest tools to do the very best job I can, and I am psyched!

Here is all of it layed out on my new desk!

First, the crown jewel of my setup. The Panasonic P2 HVX200 Camera!! Beware! This baby shoots in HD!!

 As you can see, I've got an Anton Baur ELipz battery mounted to the bottom(its that blue thing) for plenty of extra power, and an Anton Baur Elightz up top for a little extra light when I'm in dark situations.  

Also mounted to the top, up front is my personal favorite. An EK 100 G2 Wireless Reciever. It receives a signal from one of two very nice wireless microphones you see below. Audio is a crucial part of what I do and these tools allow me to collect sound that makes my stories come alive!

In order to shoot that nice steady, professional video I love so much, I've got a Miller Tripod to lock it into.

This thing has more features and buttons than I've got time to tell you about.

If I need to tape myself showing you something, I can just flip the screen around and use a remote control to start recording.

The coolest part about my job is that I am fully mobile. The rest of my equipment is contained in this backpack that is attached to me at all times.

Inside I have two main tools. An Avid Mojo (left) and a Dell Precision M65 Notebook(righ). The Mojo allows me to take almost any kind of video into the laptop and then send my edited video out to almost anything I want.(i.e. One of our Mobile Newsrooms)

On the laptop I have editing software called Avid Newscutter. Its a really powerful application that gives me alot of options.

But to use that powerful tool I have to have this little thing plugged in. Its called the "dongle" and its like a key that unlocks the software so I can use. This little key costs more than the whole computer, so it has a very special place I keep it.

So, now you must be wondering how I get video from the camera to the laptop. Well, I have the option of shooting on MiniDV tape but I prefer to use the camera's P2 memory cards . These are like the memory cards you use for your digital camera only much, much biggers (16GB). The reason I prefer to shoot on these is because when I'm done shooting, I pull the card out of the camera, and slide it into a slot in the laptop (right behind the card in the picture below) and with the click of the button I almost instantly have access to all of my video for editing!!!

And when I'm finished with my piece, I have a broadband card in the laptop that allow me to access and post my story online from anywhere I can get a cellphone signal!

So that's the setup. I have spent the last week or so reading all the instruction manuals, plugging things in, and trying everything out. I'm just about ready to go and I can't wait to get out there and tell some stories with all this amazing gear!!!

Regards

Dan Haggerty