This issue: Online news from Ken Sands

An online milestone: Oregon newspaper first published its Pulitzer Prize-winning entry online. Click here to learn more.

Convergence: The Arizona Republic and a television partner team up for video news Webcast. Click here for a link.

Special project: Lawrence Journal-World taps students for multimedia project. Click here for a link.

Getting bloggier: Greensboro and Rochester, Minn., join the ranks with blogs. Click here for ideas and links.

Multimedia ideas: Smaller papers are beginning to experiment. From New York to Washington, staff are trying new techniques. Click here for examples.

Cooperation: Members cited for help covering Minnesota school shootings, other breaking news. Click here.

PULITZER PROJECT: PRIZE-WINNING ENTRY PUBLISHED FIRST ONLINE
OK print editors, pay attention: the Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism was awarded this year to the Willamette Week newspaper in Portland, Ore., which published its report on the Web before it appeared in print. (See story on Cyberjournalist.net.)

As the story indicates, the Pulitzers only allow online materials to be submitted as part of entries in the Public Service category, so technically the print version won the award. But it was published first on the Web because the subject of the expose, former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt, approached The Oregonian in an attempt to get them to publish his side of the sex-abuse story first. When Willamette Week discovered it might get "scooped" on its story, the newspaper published the whole thing on its Web site. That's what's called turning a corner.

TV AND NEWSPAPER TEAM UP FOR VIDEO NEWS WEBCAST
Here's an item from my favorite journalism site, Poynter's E-Media Tidbits:

AZCentral.com, the Web site of the Arizona Republic, and KPNX Channel 12 in Phoenix, are producing three-minute Webscasts. The Webcasts, produced by the TV partner, are updated six times a day on weekdays.

SPECIAL PROJECT: LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD TAPS STUDENTS FOR MULTIMEDIA PROJECT
Truman Capote's classic "In Cold Blood" inspired a special section marking the 40th anniversary of the killings of a rural Kansas family and the notoriety that his book brought to a small town. Students from the University of Nebraska "assessed the impact of Capote's self-described work of 'narrative nonfiction' through research and interviews with people in Holcomb and Garden City – both those who lived there at the time of the murders and those who live there now."

The resulting series was published in the Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World. See it here.

GETTING BLOGGIER: GREENSBORO, OTHERS, GO WHOLE BLOG
The Greensboro (N.C.) News-Record has established 14 blogs since it announced in December that it was going to radically alter the way it delivered news. There are a few excellent ideas:

– In "The Chalkboard" blog (http://blog.news-record.com/chalkboard/), education beat reporter Jennifer Fernandez tries to engage readers in a dialogue.

– In "The Bargain Blog," (http://blog.news-record.com/staff/bargainblog/) writer Michael Fuchs gives specific consumer advice on where to shop.

There also are blogs on religion and NASCAR. The more specific the blog topic, the more successful these online journal-style efforts tend to be, and the more targeted audience they provide to advertisers.

At the Post-Bulletin in Rochester, Minn., Managing Editor Jay Furst tells of three blogs there, on media ethics, business and sports:

"We plan to have a half-dozen more up within a few months," Furst said. We'd like to know about what new blogs or other interactive features have been launched at news sites. Tell us at: kens@spokesman.com.

MULTIMEDIA: SMALLER PAPERS ARE BEGINNING TO EXPERIMENT
The (Elmira, N.Y.) Star-Gazette is another example of a smaller community daily that's making in-roads with interactive and multimedia content. Bill Church, executive editor said: "We've done a variety of blogs (including a notebook on Elmira's hockey team) and Webcasts in the past year. The growth of multimedia content inspired us to create a Multimedia page that sends online readers to our Webcasts, audios, blog archives, Flash projects and photo galleries." Here's the link: http://www.stargazettenews.com/multimedia/.

At the Tri-City (Wash.) Herald, New Media Director Andy Perdue reports that the staff of three is producing Web video, which local TV stations don't even do. See one example here: http://www.sportstricities.com/sportstc/video/fevervideo/040205/.

And when flooding hit the Hudson Valley, The Times Herald-Record in Middletown, N.Y., added to its extensive coverage with video and photos solicited from readers: http://www.recordonline.com/news/special_reports/2005flood/.

Have you done any recent multimedia work you'd like to share with others? Tell us at: kens@spokesman.com.

COOPERATION KUDOS: MEMBERS CITED FOR TIPS, INFORMATION, PHOTOS
Member newspapers, Web sites and broadcast stations are AP's eyes and ears on the ground. Their quick assistance – a phone alert, a tip, photo or quick bits of information – help the news cooperative deliver a complete, timely news and photo report benefiting all members. The Associated Press Managing Editors recognizes outstanding cooperation with Instant Citations. These members are being cited for recent help:

– The Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer, where Publisher Dennis Doeden gave AP first word of the March 21 school shootings on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, allowing the cooperative to swiftly mobilize to cover what turned out to be the worst such shooting since Columbine. The Pioneer's editor dictated material to AP twice before she even wrote the paper's own story, critical because it was hours before AP could get to the remote location. The newspaper also shared dramatic photographs from the shooting scene where eight people died. In the ensuing days the Pioneer continued to share coverage with AP. Also cited will be Minnesota Public Radio, where reporter Dan Gunderson was the only newsperson with a camera when tribal police officers suddenly appeared on the high school roof two weeks later searching for a gun reportedly hidden around the time of the shootings. Gunderson worked with MPR online manager Bob Collins to quickly share four pictures with AP members.

– WSMV-TV, Nashville, Tenn., for assisting in the coverage of a Navy reservist whose assignment to active duty in Iraq raised concerns among family and friends about the 11 children left behind.

– KRGV-TV in Weslaco, Texas, for first word to AP about the resignation of a state district judge, and then the judge's death, an apparent suicide.

– The Post-Tribune of Merrillville, Ind., which provided two on-cycle photos from the scene of a multiple homicide in Hobart. The member transmitted the photos in time for other morning newspapers to use in illustrating this breaking-news story.

– The Southern Standard in McMinnville, Tenn., for contributions to coverage of the Feburary arrest of an elementary school teacher charged with having improper relations with one of her students.

– The Tribune of Seymour and The Republic of Columbus, Ind., for quickly sharing photos from the arraignment of a man accused of sexually molesting a girl who was abducted and later killed by another man. In the case of The Republic the newspaper offered the photo to AP members before it could publish its picture itself. The Tribune gave AP the story about the arrest of a man.

– The Centre Daily Times, State College, Pa., for sharing a photo from the scene of a March 26 airplane crash that killed six people near Bellefonte.

– The Daily News and KBMW Radio of Wahpeton, N.D., for their work helping AP cover a murder-suicide in southeastern North Dakota March 31.

The online portion of today's edition was written by Ken Sands, online publisher, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash., and a member of the APME Board of Directors.