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Hostage Situation on 131 Front Street

I heard Bob Joseph on both CNN and MSNBC. At one point on MSNBC he broke the news of the number of shooting victims, at first attributing it to a "high ranking Binghamton official." When the news twit on MSNBC pressed, he then admitted the source as being Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan. The news twit then acted as if the information was incorrect and glossed over it. It was awhile before CNN, MSNBC or Fox News Channel went with that number. Kudos to Bob for having it right (although I wish nobody would ever have to be in a position to report on such a horrific event.)

Later that evening on CNN, it was interesting to see Susan Candiotti on scene doing stand-ups for CNN's evening news shows. Who better to cover than someone who once worked in the market?

WBNG's web coverage was useless. Pressconnects wasn't much better until later that afternoon. By contrast, their coverage all weekend has been commendable.

Is it really true that WBNG's live truck is out of service and Granite hasn't coughed up the cash to get it fixed? Do they still call themselves the News Leader? If so, that sure sounds like false advertising to me, and the old jokes of "Inaction News" and "Action Snooze" are more accurate than ever.
 
Yes it is true that the BNG Sat-Truck is down and Granite hasn't fixed it. They can get around, but they cannot upload video without that truck. One of the truly frightening things I saw was at 5pm FoxNews was still in wall to wall coverage. At 5pm Fox normally has radio talker Glenn Beck on with an opinion show. For whatever reason Fox decided to allow Beck to anchor that hour instead of sidlining him and putting one of their more skilled anchors on. What followed was an hour of pure dribble, and the only intellegent voices to be heard were the reporter at their "news desk" and Bob Joseph's voicers. I don't think I have ever heard anything more juvenile.
 
Looking back, I think our area media did a good job maximizing the limited resources at our fingertips. As bad as everyone says local coverage was, when the national media needed or needs something they turned and asked one of us... to point out who people behind the podium were, to give them a lay of the land, short cuts around roadblocks, camera feeds, new updates and sound bites...

I think if this thred shows anything, it's we're all short staffed, but thats not a Binghamton problem, that is becoming a media thing, the curse of the small markets for the last two decades, that is creeping everyday into bigger and bigger places.

I don't have someone to set up for me, or do my info digging for me, I'll admit it, I even electrocuted myself with our portable broadcasting unit probably 6 times that morning/afternoon in the rain. I wasn't prepared to be tiptoeing around all wet all day as I was. I'm a morning show host, I was on the air by 5am geared up for a Free Ticket Friday, but by 10:48 we were pausing our contesting and I was headed for the scene. Yes, Cool & Q continued to play music, but we talked about the situation constantly, broke in with live reports from downtown and we even had a dedicated page on our websites to "A Tragedy in Binghamton" - ACA news and information.

We did what we could, and worked our strengths, of knowing the people and the area. I went downtown, because Cool 100 works hand and hand with the ACA regularly... I've broadcasted live from there during signicantly better times, been to their luncheons countless times and I know the center as a place my father, who is not American, turned to many times with immigration/green card issues. Locals know its far more than "an immigration processing center" and some of us even tried to relate listeners to the scene talking about things and places that use to be for mental reference of the happenings. That's always a benefit of LOCAL... was I as smooth as a CNN anchor, of course not, did I have an endless supply of criminal experts or shrinks from across the country at my fingertips to discuss motives with, nope, but did I share the same information live from the scene, as it happened, yes.

It was very personal to us at Equinox, Bill Flynn has connected us with so many in the diverse ethnic communities. Friday, I ran on pure adrenaline, by Saturday, when I was alone in the studio for a toned down Saturday edition of my show, it was much different. I already knew at that point, we'd lost people we knew, this was 14 people HERE in our town, it wasn't just a news story anymore... I choked up on the air a couple times, while playing people's memories and phone calls, and just lowkeyed everything... it was REAL now, personal to everyone!

Over that weekend and the following week, I think local media really shined. Everyone covered and passed along the charities, the memorials and public response has been overwhelming. I give a big nod to the paper, for trying to redefine the ACA again as the place it was, not just the place where people got shot, with the articles about people it's affected and it's look at the victims and their survivors.

I'm rambling, I know, but this isn't meant to dismiss any of the concerns or thoughts, it's probably as much a theraputic rant as anything... I never thought something like this would happen in Binghamton. I drive regularly to NYC for a part time promotions gig, I have an apt there, a stones throw from Columbus Circle, I expect bad news looking down on the streets of NYC from my apt window on the 18th floor, I don't expect to cover senseless crimes like this, basically in the backyard of where I grew up.
 
I'm rambling, I know, but this isn't meant to dismiss any of the concerns or thoughts, it's probably as much a theraputic rant as anything... I never thought something like this would happen in Binghamton. I drive regularly to NYC for a part time promotions gig, I have an apt there, a stones throw from Columbus Circle, I expect bad news looking down on the streets of NYC from my apt window on the 18th floor, I don't expect to cover senseless crimes like this, basically in the backyard of where I grew up.

We don't expect that bad things can happen in places where we have been so happy. A friend of mine lives in Binghamton. I spent a whole lot of time with her over this. Her daughter, who is very strong and took it all in stride, figuring it was under control, was right there and could not leave her office nearby. My friend was a wreck for a few days afterward with all the "what if...had happened?".

So no worries about rambling. It's a shock to the system.
 
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