I arrived at my home on H St. in Eureka Saturday afternoon around 3:30 p.m. and soon found myself sucked into Facebookdom. Scrolling down my newsfeed, I was confronted with the following screaming status update:
News Channel 3 A GUNMAN MAY STILL BE ON THE LOOSE IN EUREKA. … SEE WHAT OUR CAMERAS CAUGHT AS EPD HAD WEAPONS DRAWN NEAR G AND 11TH STREET
MORE DETAILS AT 6 PM….
Since “G AND 11TH” is a block from my house, I got up off my couch and glanced out my window, not wanting to be oblivious of any potential bullets whizzing by. I wasn’t actually that concerned. Were a manic gunman to reach for my doorknob in hopes of finding an EPD shelter, he’d be thwarted by serial door-locking tendencies. Fortunately, there were no Tombstone-ish scene to be seen.
But as I stuck my brain back into Facebook, I noticed the less-CAPS-heavy comments that followed. A sampling:
Jessica Bones Douez: We seriously have to wait until 6 for details about a gunman on the loose (30 likes!)
Ashley Helena Ann: If people’s safety is at risk why r we not being given the details now ??? (20 likes!)
Joslyn Nelson: That’s a block away from where I live. YIKES!!
Patty Sue: WTF kind of reporting is THAT? … There is no update….the town is on lockdown!
Chelsea Smith: im a little freaked out can we get some more info
Uh oh. That’s not good. The commenters swayed me from my initial feelings of invincibility to instead being a little put out by the — by consensus — alarmingly vague post.
At about the same time, the Times-Standard responded to a request on its own Facebook wall for information on all the hubbub. The information it provided at 5:09 p.m. was certainly more thorough (commenter Joslyn from the News Channel 3 post above chimed in with “Thanks for telling us. Had me worried cause I live a block away.”).
I generally like it more when people aren’t fearing for their lives. Like any good Facebook activist, I Ctrl-C’d that link and Ctrl-V’d it on the News Channel 3 thread. Confession: I added a light, snarky “Sorry if this messes up some Nielsen ratings thing” to the end of it. Guilty.
For whatever reason, someone internally at News Channel 3 recharted its “MORE DETAILS AT 6 PM” course from earlier and posted a more detailed update to its Facebook page at 5:44 p.m. Again, confession time: I commented “Spoiler alert!” ‘cuz sometimes I think I’m clever. Then I went on with my weekend time wasting.
The next morning I logged in for my morning Facebook fix and decided to see who else might be adding irreverence to the slight debacle of the previous afternoon. Oh. My comments were gone. And I could post no more.
Bummer. (Also, the initial “ON THE LOOSE” update now appears to have been deleted. You can view it here.)
I’d seen this before. News Channel 3 has had an itchy ban finger in the past (Full disclosure: I’ve been critical of the station’s work in the past, if that matters to anyone.) In fact, an entire Facebook group called Real News for the North Coast sprang up back in January of people “sick of being censored on the News Channel 3 Facebook page.”
But I wasn’t sure which of News Channel 3’s rules for appropriate Facebook discourse I had violated. Previously, News Channel 3 has written in threads on Facebook, “The only responses we delete are those with cursing or threats.”
Did that policy change?
I called News Channel 3 News Director Betsy Lambert to inquire. She said she was aware that people had complained about the station’s Facebook post, and she had spoken to the reporter responsible. However, she said that she was unaware that comments I’d posted had been deleted or that I’d been banned.
She then called my editor and my publisher. Ms. Lambert told editor Carrie Peyton Dahlberg that a temporary ban applied to everyone on that thread and has now been lifted.
(Here’s the post as it appeared before I’d been reinstated. Here is the live post now.)
This article appears in School Lunch 2.0.
I cannot stand the discourse on the News Channel 3 facebook page. Betsy’s responses are ridiculous. She makes it sound like if you aren’t kissing her behind then you aren’t welcome there. Oh, and Betsy, save yourself some time responding to my comment in your usual fashion- I don’t want to call the station and discuss the matter with you.
Nice summary, Goff. I imagine the reporter who wrote the initial “GUNMAN LOOSE” post made an honest mistake and didn’t mean to freak people out, a professional journalist should have a better grip on how to deliver information.
Even more importantly, when a mistake is made, the professional response is to acknowledge it, correct it as much as possible, and move on to treating viewers/readers/listeners/etc. with respect. Not banning people for pointing out those errors.
Cut off the racists and the inordinately foul-mouthed, sure, but accurate criticism of an incomplete story that rightfully scared people? That’s just bad form and disrespectful to the community supposedly being served.
Especially people who have the decency to use their names and stand behind their words. Snark and all.
CRXN: “…to freak people out, BUT a professional journalist…”
I stopped looking at News Channel 3’s facebook page. It’s so unprofessional it makes me cringe. I could get the same caliber information at the local junior high.
Someone’s head has been chopped off and his lower half is still moving in the road on 5th and H.
MORE DETAILS AT 5.
Also…puppies.
This happened literally right outside my house. I have two small toddlers. Thankfully they were at grandmas at the time but I was terrified. And then channel 3 shows up frantically running to the scene. I was so annoyed. How did they even find out? News travels fast I guess.
I’m not usually a confrontational person. I’m shy. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but I was bad mouthing ch 3 as loud as I could. They were getting in the way. The cops were trying to ask questions and find the guy and here’s this lady in the middle of everything. Then she starts filming me. On my porch in my pajamas. So i flipped her off. I don’t know. It was really not nice of me but i know all about them and their terrible news casts and rude employees. I know the person behind Real News Of The North Coast and saw all the craziness that happened with that.
Basically it was just really upsetting to be sitting on my porch feeling anxious about the whole thing and this lady is just scurrying around like her job was more important than actually finding the guy.
I didn’t even look at their fb afterward coz i knew I’d get upset. They are very unprofessional. In so many ways. It’s really too bad.
Channel 3 news has been a joke for long while. I’ve noted more and more “canned”stories being shown that have blatent inaccuracies and when I’ve contacted Ms. Lambert about these her response is that usually they have no problems with the “purchased” stories. So much for fact checking! Kind of sad that purchasing canned stories from outside groups is what is served to us as the news.
Where is grandpa Dave (Silverbrand) when we need him. He wouldn’t serve us up this canned shit. He would, however, poke about town, in his newsy 1970s trencoat. That, of course, would make his coverage of this neighborhood death scare more legit.
Where is grandpa Dave (Silverbrand) when we need him. He wouldn’t serve us up this canned shit. He would, however, poke about town, in his newsy 1970s trencoat. That, of course, would make his coverage of this neighborhood death scare more legit.
Jennie, you hit on something really important. The fact that these NC3 camera people have some sort of special rights to be in the middle of serious situations and then FILM people without their permission. It’s so incredibly rude.
After they posted a picture of what appeared to be a bloody street where a man had jumped to his death, I decided those people will NEVER get my family or myself on camera. The caption of the photo read something like ‘the fire department washes down the street’. What a terrible invasion of privacy during something so serious. I’m glad you did what you did. I giggled.
yawn, get a real life.
wow,its up to us to get the real news and share it with other concerned citizens. we cannot count on NC3 to give us the honest truth, they are a joke in the news world. lets hope we never need them for anything other than jim bernards weather report.
Drama.
Drama? Yes, but it’s better than watching NC3… I literally watched the “alleged” gunman Run down the street in front of my house! All I wanted was some actual information… I’m a little surprised that I wasn’t blocked since I tried to inform on the post with all the information that I had! Safety in our community should be what comes first not ratings!
They are not worried about ratings. They’re the only local news station in town. They still routinely beat any other broadcast outlet in that slot. When we had three channels doing local news, reruns of the Simpons beat two of those other operations on a consistent basis. No competition prevents them from doing anything noteworthy. Same thing at the Sub-Standard. When the Arkley paper was around there was competition.
What a bunch of whiners! I’ve read and commented on both sides. NC3 and RNOTNC…Real News did start off as a place where armchair journalists would post what they would hear on the police scanner. Then those same losers would poke fun at Betsy and her team saying how bad they are. I would’ve banned them too. They were NOT constructive criticism, they were all poking fun at their weight, the way they report the news and point out any flaw they would see on a post. If you people think you could do a better job, get off your ass and do it. One person claimed they have some sort of online degree and could run circles around our local journalists, but yet, they can only find a job at a gas station. Yea buddy! you’re multiple degrees have certainly paid off! To Real News credit, they did stop allowing posts bashing other journalists. NC3 does not have the budget to keep good people here on the Northcoast. They have old equipment, underpaid journalists and an old school set. Does that make it ok to bash them?Not at all. They also have more than one person posting updates on the site. People do make mistakes. If I still lived there, I would recommend to them to delete the account and really watch people bitch.
You know what KIEM doesn’t have Andrew? SPAM! Clean up your own house before you start talking shit about someone else.
We’ve grown to have a Stockholm Syndrome-ish affection for our spammers. They can stay.
But you, brian, you know what… you’re banned! Boom!
(Just kidding, mock our spam whenever you like.)
Would anyone want to read an editorial called “Secrets of the Channel 3 Newsroom” written by a former employee who was wrongfully terminated?
A narcissistic pseudo journalist whining about channel 3?
The lamest part is that I read this crap.
Waste of life.
Did they catch that gunman?
Spamtastic………
Call Roy Frostenson at CH3 and voice your opinions (he is the general manager). His phone number is: 443-3123.
Has anyone have lips big enough to kiss Betsy’s ass?
Um, what if the police hadnt released any info to the station at the time…theyd be stuck with very limited scanner traffic and what little info that could be gleaned by bystanders OUTSIDE the crime scene.
I created the RNFTNC Facebook not to bash Betsy, but to start an open forum for our community to come say what was on their mind without being censored for having different opinions. I was banned for saying something was in poor taste. No cussing, no threats, no nada.
The RNFTNC Facebook page hasn’t had any issues since I started it other than when Betsy’s family and friends from Chico joined JUST to flood our wall. We are at something like 450 members and I haven’t banned anyone or deleted any comments. As a moderator, if I see something I don’t love, I don’t respond. It’s simple. For some reason everyone on my Facebook page acts like an adult and there isn’t any drama. As I’ve always said, talking about Betsy’s size is silly because it has nothing to do with what a crummy news director she is. I, nor anyone that I know of on my page has ever addressed her weight..and if they did I’d cry because I’m larger. In all seriousness though, you’ve got to question how NC3 is being run when a person who has been banned is ON THE NEWS. I don’t think I’m at liberty to say names, but that is sooo backwards, guys. Excuse the huge clump of text, my ‘smart phone’ isn’t all that smart.
Don’t worry, I got banned from Joel Mieke’s Facebook page.
sweet… I’ll hit you up, friendside.
what’s the name I should search for again?
http://www.facebook.com/anonr.mous
I had a post deleted from their facebook. They did a story about the Del Norte County former DA being arrested while in posession of a gun owned by Del Norte Sheriff’s Dep’t. I asked if the news team was investigating why the sheriff’s dep’t didn’t know why their gun was missing until they found the gun in posession of an alleged criminal. I guess that question was too edgy for a news channel’s facebook page.
The News Channel 3 facebook page has been infinitely better since Betsy Lamberts departure! Now let us see how Mad River radio, including Kiss FMs facebook page goes now that she is there? My guess is crazy and emotional and self promoting!