bury the lede

Scott Miley Returns To Anderson

Ruth Holladay catches this announcement about former Star reporter Scott Miley:

Miley is returning to the Anderson area where he first began his career in daily newspapers.

He was a reporter for the former Anderson Daily Bulletin leaving in 1980 for The Indianapolis Star where he was a general assignment reporter for 22 years.

He recently returned to journalism serving as editor of The Southside Times, a weekly newspaper based in Beech Grove in southern Marion County.

Inside INdiana Business Hires Wayne Pratt As AME

Apologies for missing this announcement the other day:

"Grow INdiana Media Ventures, LLC, the parent of the Inside INdiana Business platform of business news products, has announced that Wayne Pratt has been named to the newly created position of assistant managing editor. In that role, the veteran newsman's responsibilities will include oversight of the daily content collection and delivery at Indiana's business news leader. 'We're thrilled to have a person of Wayne's experience and vision join the Inside INdiana Business team,' said Grow INdiana Media Ventures' President and Managing Editor Gerry Dick. 'Wayne is a solid, experienced journalist who also understands the importance of innovative distribution of compelling content.'

"Mr. Pratt has an impressive news and news management background, joining Inside INdiana Business after serving as news director and managing editor at award-winning WBAA AM-FM in West Lafayette for the past six years. He has also served as managing editor at WASK/WKOA in Lafayette and has held national anchor, reporter and writer positions at several news organizations, including Metro Source in Scottsdale, Arizona and Indianapolis and Standard Broadcast News and National Sports Radio in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

"'I'm excited to join Gerry and his highly regarded team,' said Pratt. 'It will be tough to leave my friends at WBAA and Purdue after six years. But Grow INdiana Media Ventures has presented me with a great career opportunity that is a good fit for my family.'

"Mr. Pratt will officially begin his duties February 4."

On The Record, Off The Calendar

The score from Bloomington: Fourth estate: 1. Former government hack: 0.

"A former security adviser to President Bush canceled a speech at Indiana University after objections by the news media to a stipulation that her remarks not be reported.

"Meghan O'Sullivan was to have spoken on U.S. policy in Iraq at the university's Whittenberg Auditorium on Tuesday night at the invitation of the campus group Student Alliance for National Security. She backed out, however, after a reporter for the campus newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student, refused to agree to the off-the-record restriction.

"Gene Coyle, the faculty adviser for the Student Alliance, later said O'Sullivan was feeling ill.

"He also said that O'Sullivan had agreed to come to IU only if she could speak off the record, meaning her remarks were not for publication.

"'It's a common practice for people who leave government not to give on-the-record interviews for a certain period after they leave government,' O'Sullivan said later. 'I have spoken widely off-the-record and it has been respected.'"

No Cuts At WTHR

The new general manager at WTHR tells the Indianapolis Business Journal that there will be no budget cuts on his watch. From the afternoon update:

"WTHR-TV Channel 13's new General Manager Jim Tellus promises to continue outspending the market's other local stations when it comes to news gathering and hopes to help the station retain its status as the No. 1 local TV news channel. With WISH-TV Channel 8 coming up in the ratings, new anchors making their mark at WRTV-TV Channel 6 and a beefed-up news product at WXIN-TV Channel 59, Tellus has his work cut out for him. Tellus, who joined WTHR as news director in December 2006, was named yesterday to replace 13-year WTHR veteran Rich Pegram. Pegram left abruptly Nov. 1."

Eff Bombs Away!

This report just in from the national desk: Diane Keaton has no self-control. Heh.

Val Hoeppner Moving On From The Star

This is a tad belated, but...

Scott Goldman/INI
01/10/2008 09:25 AM   
To StarNewsroom
Subject Val Hoeppner    

Val Hoeppner is going to be leaving The Star next month to take a new job with the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute in Nashville.

She will be their new manager of multimedia education and work with students and professionals on advancing multimedia skills. This is a dream job for Val, who already spends three weeks a year working with Native American students under a Freedom Forum program.

In her new role she will be starting a program from scratch. She'll create a curriculum for the program; she'll be the primary faculty member teaching video, audio, photography and editing courses; she'll create a multimedia journalism website for the Freedom Forum to display work of scholars, alumni and professional journalists; and she'll also be an adjunct journalism professor at Belmont University. Sounds like she'll be very busy, just as she's been here at The Star!

Val has served as Deputy Director of Photography and Multimedia Editor for the Star, and she's played a huge role in the rapid development of multimedia here over the past three years.

   

New AME At Inside INdiana Business?

Lifted straight from the comments section, look for the folks over at Inside INdiana Business to announce a new assistant managing editor this week, a position that previously didn't exist.

Please Pardon The Interruption

It's tough enough putting out a newspaper when you have fewer than a dozen reporters on the metro desk. Add in technical difficulties, and you've got yourself a recipe for Sunday disaster:

"Due to massive computer problems, several news stories planned for Sunday's newspaper did not appear this morning. The problems, related to computer storage issues, required us to reprint some stories from Saturday's newspaper, and leave out stories we had planned to publish.

"We apologize for the problems which we believe are now fixed. Local news and sports stories we had planned for Sunday's paper will be published in Monday's Star."

IBJ To Dump A Few Columnists?

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Your friendly neighborhood blogmistress was wrong. According to IBJ editor Tom Harton, only two regular columnists are no longer writing for the publication. The IBJ is exploring some additional internal online opportunities, but there's been no wholesale dumping of external writers. Apologies from yours truly for posting an unfounded rumor.

UPDATE: Apparently, the IBJ, in an effort to compete with the Star, has decided to can all of its "outsourced" commentary, relying instead on in-house content. The answer, then, to the question posed below is that everyone is getting the boot. (The move makes you wonder if they'll be hiring additional staffers or simply dumping more week-to-week responsibilities on those who currently work there. That, indeed, would be a Star-like transformation.)

EARLIER: Word on the street is that the Indianapolis Business Journal is preparing to dump some of its regular columnists -- the folks like Abdul, Morton Marcus and Brian Williams whose work currently appears on the editorial page in the middle of the weekly publication.

No word yet on who's getting the boot.

What are you hearing?

LIN Launches IndyTube

LIN Television, the parent company of WISH-TV, has launched a new niche website called IndyTube. It's essentially a local version of YouTube with a twist: Uploaded content will be reworked into a television show produced in-house and hosted by a local deejay or media celebrity.

You can check out the website here.

A bit more information:

What is IndyTube?

IndyTube is a niche web site for people like you and me to post our best videos on the web. It's similar to YouTube, but has a local focus. In addition to being a local web site that will feature videos, we're also launching a television show in a few weeks that will show the best-of videos submitted on the web. So, not only can you be a star on the web, you might get 15 minutes of fame on TV too.

What kind of videos can I post?

There are LOTS of creative content ideas that you can post. A few suggestions include:

• Funny or crazy pet tricks
• Video of a prank you pull on a friend
• Your kids most amazing athletic achievement
• A humorous spoof comedic series you create
• Video of a high school play
• Footage from a recent local band performance

Obviously the ideas are limitless! We encourage you to surf sites like www.YouTube.com, http://video.yahoo.com/, and www.metacafe.com for a few ideas.

If I have any questions, who can I speak to?

If it's content related, we suggest speaking with Jason Crundwell, WISH's Internet Director. If you have an advertising or sales related question, contact Carrie Bolin, Internet Sales Director.

How do I post a video to IndyTube?

First, you need to take a video. Many new cell phones offer a way to take video. You can also use the video mode on all digital cameras and of course, video cameras. You must be able to download the video to your computer hard drive. Check your manual on how to do this. Jason and the rest of the web team will try and help too, if you need it.

Now, go online to www.indytube.tv. Click on "Sign up" or "Upload" and it will ask you to register the very first time you sign up. Once you do so, you'll get a screen to upload your video. Browse your computer for the file, give it a title, description and indicate a few key words that relate to it and push "upload."

Video will be uploaded to the site and approved by a human editor. Typically this happens in less than 20 minutes, though late at night it could take more time.

Overall, the first time you submit a video it should take about 3-4 minutes. After that, most videos upload in a matter of minutes. The shorter the video is, the quicker it uploads.

How can I increase my chances of having a video featured on the new TV show?

Our editors will be selecting videos that are entertaining and generate interest from a wide audience.

• Ideal segments are :15 second to 2:00 minutes in length
• Segments are not commercial in focus (they might accomplish a commercial goal, but they are entertaining foremost) Videos that are clearly commercial focused will be deleted. IE, if Unique Windows & Door Inc. post their 30-second commercial, it's not going to stay on the site. But if Unique Windows & Door post a video on how to test your windows for leaks, it would.
• Audio! We want to hear what is being said (and be able to understand it).
• High resolution files are more likely to be shown on TV or highlighted as an editor's pick. Upload at a high quality level. (A good gauge is 1 MB per :30 seconds of footage, we don't require HD video!).
• You are welcome to put your own welcome or 'produced by, starring, etc.' but don't let that take  up more than a 10% of total video time.