Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Looks like another local media outlet is experimenting with citizen journalism.

Since 2005, the Tampa Tribune has offered you a chance for you to be one of their “Community Columnists” and write opinion pieces found on their op-ed page.  They also added “Reel People,” including the beautiful and talented Lisa Ciurro, to write movie reviews that show up in Friday Extra now and again.

A few months ago, Creative Loafing introduced their “Fix It Now” blog, and made the call for interested citizen journalists to contribute to the site.  Since then, a couple have added their voices to the blog.  I’m not sure if they have been published in the printed Loaf, though.

Other than those efforts, not much has been done by local media to get regular citizens involved in the news gathering process.  But Tampa Bay’s 10 is gonna give it a try. 

They plan on handing out video cameras, and want to air your video reports on Tampa Bay’s 10. 

Tampa Bay’s 10 is looking for twenty people around the Bay area to help us with a special project. We will teach twenty lucky people how to shoot a video camera, and how to get the video to us here at the station.

… These clips can be about many different subjects. Things that happen in your community. Anything from bad weather to your childs play at school. Maybe your neighborhood meeting.

Not only that, but they are going to pay you and let you keep the camera (emphasis is theirs)!

Each time you send me a video story that either makes it on the news or on our web site, Tampa Bay’s 10 will pay you TWENTY DOLLARS!

If you hold up your end of the deal, after a year, you will KEEP the video camera we assign you.

In addition to the camera, you will get a tripod, a camera bag, a battery, and everything you need to download video into your computer. 

Former Tampa Bay reporter Amani Channel doesn’t think that’s enough:

I don’t think tampabay10’s “citizen journalism team” has taken the right approach. It’s great to encourage public participation, but this initiative sounds like a low paying job. Stringers can make up to $500.00 bucks for each piece of newsworthy content they capture, and sell.

We’ll be looking forward to the results.If you want to be one of Tampa Bay’s 10’s new Citizen Journalists, send Mitchell Wallace an e-mail mwallace@tampabays10.com.

PS:  Tampa Bay’s 10 is also running the new local Metromix website, as well as something called “Hey Juicy,” which defies explanation.

Have you been reading about the soap opera-like story of Winters & Yonker’s breakaway from long time bay area TV commercial lawyer Richard Mulholland?

The St. Pete Times points out it is “A case of money, deceit, sex and lawyers,” where W&Y were found liable for theft from their former boss. 

On the slow-loading Winters & Yonker website, you can find out that they are known for their “Attentive Personal Service,” their first priority is “Top-Quality Medical Evaluation and Care,” and they brag about their efficiency.

Nowhere does it mention that they would rip off their own mentor in order to increase the chance of business success.

But remember, not all attorneys are like this.  As the old saying goes, it’s that 99% of lawyers that give the profession a bad name.

No matter.  This isn’t really about Mulholland v. Winters & Yonker.  The real loser in all of this is Beltz & Ruth.  Well, them and Morgan & Morgan.  And Catania & Catania (no direct link, cuz Google don’t like the site).

With the wacky story being played out in the media, the names Winters, Yonker, and Mulholland have been all over the place, giving them all a bunch of free publicity. 

Now look for the others to counter with something just as crazy.  Come to think of it, forget the “soap opera” comment - this is more like rasslin’.  We ought to get Morgan, Ruth, Winters, Catania, Mulholland, Catania, Morgan, Beltz, & Yonker in a Battle Royal and crown one the King of Ambulance Chasers.

Was asked to do an interview Monday based on my post about Holly Benson.

The interview happened so fast I didn’t have time to do my hair or make-up so viewer discretion is advised.

I swear the camera adds twenty pounds, but yes, I recognize the fact that I made fun of Holly’s hair and then got on television with a brillo pad atop my own head.

Laugh it up, fuzzballs.

Thank God they didn’t mention my site - I’d like to charm my co-workers before I start alarming them.

I’ve only been back a month. That’s gotta be some kind of record.

Update 5pm: Commenter Lee Nelson noticed that the Buzz also picked up the story.

Note: Some links here automatically start video and audio, so adjust your volume accordingly.

First off, WE LOVE KELLY RING. Kelly Ring has been coming into our living rooms for decades, and there is no better natured, more beautiful, always smiling and pleasant person to deliver the news to us. Her “What’s Right With Tampa Bay” is a favorite segment of ours. She has won three Emmys! Her mom dated Elvis! Kelly is so cool that she had the Wendy Ryan hair thing going on ten years before her (well, ok, maybe not quite).

But, as a newsreader, well, uhhh, she fumbles over her words now and again. Oh - she usually recovers, and she’s so cool about it, you can nearly forget or ignore the mishaps. But it does happen more often that she’d like. I figure she successfully makes it through two or three reading segments between tripping spells.

The unscripted banter is much more amusing. At the end of “live on scene” segments, WTVT anchors ask reporters one or two more questions. With Kelly, these are almost comedic. I figure there is about a 50/50 shot for a seamless chat between her and the reporter on the scene. The same thing often happens when handing off to Weatherguy Paul Dellegatto or Sportsguy Chip Carter.

All of which means that we have the perfect basis for The Kelly Ring Drinking Game.

There are only two rules:

• Take a drink whenever anyone mentions Kelly’s name, or whenever Kelly calls another staffer by name.
• Take a drink whenever Kelly mispronounces, repeats herself, or otherwise jumbles up her words. On close calls, give her the benefit of the doubt - another opportunity will come along shortly.

And that’s it! Watch the Fox 13 Six O’Clock News for Happy Hour, and the Ten O’Clock to get juiced for a night out. Have fun and use a designated driver!

Your afternoon daily news:

Tribune Front: 

• Remember nearly a year ago when there was concern about the C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir having cracks?  TBO’s Mike Salinero and Steve Andrews follow up and finds that some of the cement walls are only 3 inches thick when they should be a foot.  The worst part?  Tampa Bay Water knew about this in November, and are just now getting around to telling folks - 6 months later.  TBW Executive Director Gerald Seeber says everything is fine, and there is nothing to worry about.  I wonder if Gerry lives next door to the thing.

Times Front:

• Red Sox fans in Tampa Bay are starting to root for the Rays.
• Like the airlines, local restaurants are beginning to nickel and dime their customers, adding fees for lettuce, extra sauce, and other stuff.  Some have created new lower-priced menus.

Tribune Metro:

• The 93 year old elevator at Tampa City Hall is getting electricity.
• Pinellas County commissioners approved an agreement with a development group that plans to build a massive town center-type project on the 240-acre former Toytown landfill in northeast St. Petersburg.  Might they work with the Rays on a new stadium?  They might.

Times Local:

• Former Miss Georgia Jennifer Holloway is leaving Bay News 9 to focus on promoting the exercise machine she invented, the Workout 180.

Barry Melrose is now officially the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, replacing the recently fired John Tortorella, under whom the Lightning won the Stanley Cup in 2004.

I don’t like it.

Having spent the last 13 years as a TV analyst on ESPN, promoting the mullet as a viable hairstyle and generally not being a hockey coach, in my opinion Melrose is as qualified to lead the Lightning as Willard Scott is to be the director of NOAA.

Of course, I should point out that it might be a good idea to ignore my opinion. After all, I once believed that signing Dave Andreychuk would turn out to be one of the dumbest things the Lightning had ever done.

(Cross posted at Ridiculous trickle of consciousness)

Steve Otto is a great guy.

He’s been around these parts for a mighty long time, and has covered all the ups and downs of Tampa Bay.  He gives of his time and well-recognized name to a bunch of charitable organizations, and is always somewhere doing something for someone.

But it sure is tiring hearing about how the old newspaper days were so much better.  It seems that once a month he is going on about the old Tampa Bay Times afternoon daily, and how the community is suffering since less paper ends up in a garbage dump.

His latest is another complaint about how the blogosphere is helping to kill newspapers.

The American Amateur Press Association showcased a panel discussion on the future of newspapers and the printed word, and newspaper types were typically irritated:

There was plenty more to be gloomy about, not just declining circulations but also the growing realization that it is not just that younger readers are getting their news elsewhere as it is that they aren’t getting news at all.

[Context] is what newspapers have provided: a thoughtful, organized context to the news instead of the scattered who-knows-where-it-came-from stories off the Net.

Then he provides the zinger:

I remember in 1961 when then FCC Chairman Newton Minow said TV had become a vast wasteland. We would be hard-pressed to argue it has improved in almost half a century.

I wonder what he would think of the blogosphere.

Hey Steve, check it out:

There are hundreds of TV networks.  A great majority of them are certainly a waste of time.  However, there are a significant number of them that are quite marvelous, and can keep you up to speed on those things that are important to you.  I think we can make a great argument that TV has improved since 1961.

Like TV, the blogosphere landscape includes much wasteland as well as oases of wonderful.  The beauty is that you can choose to visit those websites that you find relevant to you, and ignore the others.

As to the demise of newspapers, that is a natural progression.  A newspaper is simply a way of delivering content.  Just because over the past 40 years, the best journalism has come from newspapers, does not mean that paper is still the best way to deliver that important news.

I don’t think Steve really laments the loss of “newspapers,” but rather “journalism.”  And instead of blaming the internet, I believe his complaints should be directed toward Media companies in General.  Of course, someone at the AAPA meeting had already pointed that out to him:

“I’m saddened what’s happened to papers. They seem to have adopted a can’t-beat-them-let’s-join-them attitude with the ‘them’ being cable TV that features sensationalism and celebrities’ misery. I see it on a daily basis. I have had to take at least 10 calls this week about the son of Hulk Hogan.”

Hmmm.  Seems like an impartial observer might say that newspapers are a vast wasteland.

Diverting journalists to stories like this, media conglomerates chose to go after bigger and bigger audiences, instead of focusing on delivering important news to those who care.  And those who do care about that important news are moving on to other providers, including radio, television, and, yep, the blogosphere.

The truth is, in order to find that “context,” citizens can no longer count on the “newspaper” to provide it.  Like Steve Otto, we are now forced to spend valuable time and take several avenues to learn it on our own, from any media available.

That we are able to make an “honest attempt to tell the story of a community and the world around it” by publishing online is a good thing, not a waste. 

Last week, Wayne Garcia found that Tampa was unflatteringly featured on the Colbert Report in a bit about that big flag at I-4 and I-275. If you haven’t seen the video, check it out.