In Seattle, two inches of snow can cause serious havoc with our tall trees, steep hills and freeways, causing major disruptions and dangers along with priceless opportunities for sledding. Seattle’s media outlets are usually out in the middle of it, developing (often on the fly) innovative ways to bring better information to their audiences.
Join us for the next ONA & SPJ Seattle meetup Tuesday, March 6, 7 p.m. at Jillian’s, where representatives from KING, The Seattle Times, KOMO and KIRO-TV will demo (5 –minute Ignite style) the innovative ways they are covering weather for their audiences, and we’ll host a roundtable discussion on successes and lessons.
Participants include:
KIRO-TV Meteorologist Morgan Palmer serves as meteorologist for KIRO 7 Eyewitness News. Morgan began “chasing” storms as a Skywarn severe storm spotter as a teenager and continues to pursue severe storms when time permits. He also served several years as a moderator of Stormtrack, the world’s largest online forum for storm chasers. A self-described “Twitter addict,” Morgan tweets very frequently at @morganpalmer.
Sona Patel is a Producer for Social Media for The Seattle Times, where she has been helping create a social media strategy for print and online. Prior to that she was a reporter and Web producer for The Tribune, in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Her beats included the city of Morro Bay, Cuesta College, and the towns of Los Osos and Cayucos. She was also a homepage producer for The Tribune’s Web site, SanLuisObispo.com and is a recipient of the 2011 Kiplinger Fellowship in Social Media at Ohio State University.
Evonne Benedict of KING 5 started her career as a broadcast journalist, working in television for several years. Now she has incorporated that background with digital journalism, with a particular focus on social media. As social media manager, she oversees KING 5 accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest and others. She also trains and supports KING 5 staff in their social media and community efforts. Evonne is passionate about the KING 5 community, and the increasing two-way conversation between KING 5 and its viewers/readers.
Scott Sistek of KOMO is not only the staff meteorologist for KOMONews.com, but is also a content producer for the entire KOMOnews.com site, which is how he got himself listed on the Web site’s “people” section. (Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone!) Scott also writes the Partly to Mostly Bloggin’ weather blog both here at KOMO and their sister station in Portland, KATU.com.
This is our seventh in a series of #Newsnext meetups, where we’re talking to interesting locals working in the digital space. We bring together writers, editors, photographers, producers, developers, designers, engineers and anyone else with an interest in the production of news. We’ll meet at Jillian’s on Westlake, which offers a cash bar and some great space for discussion and networking. Here’s a
Seattle media innovators share creative practices for snow coverage