DECATUR, Ga. (11ALIVE) — Most of us are accustomed to giving. We give to our churches, colleges, and charities. But an Atlanta woman is taking the giving farther — making it her mission to give one hundred dollars a day, every day this year. (Read More)

Related Link: What Gives 365

Gannett Broadcasting wins four national Murrow Awards

McLEAN, VA – Gannett Broadcasting TV stations in Atlanta, GA, Buffalo, NY, and Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN, won four 2010 Edward R. Murrow awards in the national competition sponsored by the Radio Television Digital News Association. These prestigious awards honor outstanding achievements in electronic journalism.

“These Murrow Awards are a reflection of excellence at our local media operations and continue an award-winning Gannett Broadcasting tradition. Our people serve their local communities well each and every day, and we’re extremely proud to see their great work acknowledged,” said Dave Lougee, president of Gannett Broadcasting.

Winners are:

• WXIA-TV at Atlanta – large market/best continuing coverage (11Alive Staff) for “State of the Stimulus”;
• KARE-TV at Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN – large market/newscast (KARE 11 News at 10 p.m./KARE 11 News Team) for “”Blizzard Coverage” (12/23/09); large market/video feature reporting (Boyd Huppert, Jonathan Malat) for “The Tyler Project”;
• WGRZ-TV at Buffalo, NY – small market/video sports reporting (Bob Mancuso, Aaron Saykin) for “Baseball Hero.”

Friday, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Southeast Region announced that 11Alive had been nominated for 27 Emmy awards.  Here’s a rundown of the nominations:

Newscast – Daily Markets (1-25)
11Alive News

General Assignment Report
A Hero’s Reward
Jennifer Leslie, Dan Reilly

Fire & Faith
Jennifer Leslie, Steve Flood

Breaking News
Flood Rescues
Jennifer Leslie, Charles Olmstead, Deven Miller

Team Coverage
September Floods

Spot News
Hit and Run
Doug Richards, Dan Reilly

Continuing Coverage
State of Stimulus: Tracking the Money

Investigative Report
Parvo Puppy Mill
Shawn Hoder, Ross McLaughlin

Feature News Report
Daddy’s Home For Christmas
Marc Pickard, Richard Crabbe

Margie’s Wish
Julie Wolfe

One More Prom
Marc Pickard, Richard Crabbe

Business/ Consumer
Counterfeit Cash
Shawn Hoder, Ross McLaughlin

Health/Science
The Choking Game
Jonathan Samuels, Duffie Dixon

Specialty Assignment Report
Journey to Jhenya: Our Adoption from a Siberian Orphanage
Valerie Hoff, Mike Thomas

Sports-News Single Story
The Woodland Warriors
Matt Pearl

Public/Current/Community Affairs
Heroes for the Holidays
Philip Humes, Elizabeth Deschesne, Ted Hall, Brenda Wood

Special Event Coverage – Live/Edited
Centennial Olympic Park: 4th of July
Paul Ossmann, Ted Hall, A.J. Keane, Philip Humes

Station Excellence
WXIA-TV/WATL-TV

News Excellence
11Alive News
Ellen Crooke

Interactivity
Triplets Graduation
Bill Kalway, Matt Pearl, Danny Noa, Ellen Crooke, Josh Roseman, Michael King, Chris Sweigart, Donna Lowry, Kathleen Bourn, Erika Facey-Palmer, Tyson Paul, Jon Samuels, Keanne Sadeq, Phil Humes

Editor – News
Dan Reilly

News Producer
Philip Humes – 11 Alive News Tonight
Rich Hardwick

On-Camera Talent – Anchor – News
Brenda Wood

On-Camera Talent – Reporter – General Assignment
Duffie Dixon
Jaye Watson

On-Camera Talent – Reporter – Live
Duffie Dixon

Photographer – News
Jon Samuels

It also has a lot of parents of adopted children talking, sharing their experiences, in the hopes that an agreement between Russia and the United States that allows for adoptions can be continued, despite the actions of a few.

11Alive’s Valerie Hoff is uniquely positioned to speak about the adoption process.  Last year, her family adopted a little boy from Siberia.

Val recently wrote about her experiences.  After reading about her family’s commitment to create a loving home for an orphaned boy, I was amazed by their courage and awed by their devotion.

I would strongly encourage you to read Val’s honest account of her own experiences here.

This is a great recognition of the hard work and dedication of a truly outstanding and innovative news staff.

I hope to write more about how some of the work that went into the earning these awards.  In the meantime, here’s the official news release:

11Alive Wins 8 of 13 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards
Earns More Awards Than Any Large Market TV Station

ATLANTA (April 7, 2010) – WXIA-TV’s 11Alive news team won top Edward R. Murrow awards in eight categories announced today by the Radio Television Digital News Association, the world’s largest professional organization exclusively serving the electronic news profession.

The Atlanta-based NBC news affiliate won more Edward R. Murrow Awards than any other large market broadcast station. 11Alive received this honor in a year when it worked to change the face of local news in the Atlanta market. The station has focused on solutions oriented newscasts.

11Alive broadcasts solutions-oriented newscasts across metro Atlanta to provide news that helps viewers resolve issues in their community. “We knew that we were making a difference by programming a newscast that isn’t just crime and car crashes, that isn’t a copy of other local stations,” said Ellen Crooke, vice president of news at 11Alive. “To earn eight Edward R. Murrow awards – more than any other large market TV station – is certainly the biggest validation of our commitment to revitalize TV news that I can imagine.”

11Alive competed in Region 13 against all large market stations in Georgia, Florida, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands. The station received Edward R. Murrow awards in the following categories:

• Overall Excellence – 11 Alive News
• Video Breaking News Coverage – September Floods
• Video Continuing Coverage – State of Stimulus: Tracking the Money
• Video Feature Reporting – Leo
• Video Reporting: Hard News – Loss of American Dream
• Video Investigative Reporting – A Voice for Stefan
• Video News Series – Raven
• Video Sports Reporting – Woodland Warriors

The Murrow award for Overall Excellence is the result of 11Alive’s commitment over the past 18 months to listen to viewers and community leaders and provide an innovative newscast that renews interest in local TV.

“We hear you,” 11Alive promised. The station took the motto as a call to deliver truthful, solution-based news that supports the community it serves. Learn more about 11Alive at www.11alive.com.

There are several reasons I enjoy working with a photojournalist from time to time.  One, it’s great to have a fantastic shooter to make a story come alive.  And two, it’s great to have somebody to talk to while you’re driving around town.

Dan has been around the 11Alive newsroom for quite some time.  He’s a great guy and always willing to share a story or two about the characters of years past.

This week, we were discussing one of the icons of 11Alive, photographer Bruce Mason.

Bruce is known in media circles as one of first people to tie a rope around his waist and hang out of the side of a helicopter to capture aerial news footage.  This was a time before robotic cameras were mounted on the bottom of the chopper and gyroscopically stabilized.

This week, Dan told me the story of how Bruce was quite a celebrity in Japan in the mid-90s.

As one of the few people in the world crazy enough to hang out of the side of helicopter flying hundreds of feet above Atlanta, in 1995 Bruce was featured as the answer to a trivia question on a Japanese television game show, “Show By Shobai”.

Bruce was kind enough to share video of the game show with me.  I have no idea what is going on here.  But it is quite entertaining.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoWVNFGTu08

Gwinnett Man Admits Slapping Shopper’s Child
Gwinnett County Police said 61-year-old Roger P. Stephens admitted slapping a complete stranger’s child because she was crying.
According to the police report, Sonya Mathews of Grayson told them Stephens approached her and her 2-year-old daughter saying, “If you don’t shut that baby up, I will shut her up for you.”

She says a few moments later, on another aisle, he grabbed her daughter and slapped her across the face about four or five times until the child started screaming.

Parents reacted strongly against Stephens’ actions.  But, the story was portrayed from a different perspective on the website ChristWire.org (thanks to Josh Roseman for passing this article along).

Older Gentleman Politely Slaps Stranger’s Crying Baby at Walmart
How many of you have ever had a long day of work and then gone grocery shopping, to only hear an undisciplined child throwing the worst tantrum near the check-out counter?

The ChristWire.org report concludes with the following statement:

“Take a firm hand and take charge of the direction of this country. Tomorrow for your children and grandchildren depend on it. God bless and let us remember Mr. Stephens for his heroic deed and braveness in the face of liberal adversity.”

The statement brought levity after a rare, somber silence filled the newsroom upon hearing Cal’s short goodbye speech. “It’s been an honor,” Cal said simply and elegantly. That’s his style.

Many people have had the pleasure of working with Cal at 11Alive for many years. I’ve had the pleasure of working with him for about two years.

Cal was the News Director when I was hired. I remember sitting in his office during the interview uncomfortably intimidated. There I was, some kid from market 128, hoping for a shot at the big city. I’d like to think Cal played up the large market urgency during that interview. I remember him getting of from his desk, running into the newsroom, ensuring that his staff was on top of whatever news was breaking.

I joined the 11Alive News staff a couple of weeks later. I grew to learn that Cal expected a lot of his staff. But he also expected a lot, if not more, from himself. If there was a new skill the newsroom staff had to learn, he learned it, too. A news guy at heart, he never missed a chance to roll up his sleeves, hack away on some scripts or make some calls.

The announcement of Cal’s departure yesterday was unexpected. He’s moving on to a new opportunity, at which I’m sure he’ll be successful. We’re sad to see him go, but wish him the best of luck.

It’s been an honor to work with you, too, Cal.