Saturday, December 31, 2011

Most read Daily Freeman stories of 2011


UPDATE:
A comment below laments, "I am surprised our home town American Hero PFC.Douglas L. Cordo is not on the list." It was 28th.
11. School budgets pass in all local districts except Saugerties and Pine Plains
12. Crash on Thruway in Ulster kills veteran corrections officer
13. Unofficial election results
14. Two arrested after man shot in Uptown Kingston
15. Two Kingston girls charged in break-in, sexual misconduct
16. Pilot from Germantown presumed dead in Hudson River jet crash
17. SPECIAL REPORT: Embattled Kingston cop’s pay and benefit
18. Saugerties used car dealer charged with forgery, fraud scheme
19. High-ranking Kingston cop charged with stealing
20. 3 men shot, woman beaten at New Year’s party in Midtown Kingston
21. Shock, caution follow Kingston cop’s arrest
22. Police say body found in Esopus Creek is missing Saugerties man Zachary Green
23. Arrests mount in connection with shootings at Kingston party
24. Authorities: None of six boaters in accident that killed four were wearing life jackets
25. Hyde Park homicide victim, 18, was FDR High grad, gymnast
26. Area couple to be featured on DIY network
27. 4 Ulster County residents die in boat crash on Hudson
28. Kingston honors fallen soldier
29. Driver in boat crash that killed 4 was drunk, deputies say
30. Father of teen slaying victim commits suicide
31. Germantown man presumed dead in Hudson River plane crash
32. Two charged who police say ran illegal Kingston nightclub where shootings occurred
33. Kingston cop’s request for school pay raised red flag, former administrator says
34. Surveillance videos show missing man just before disappearance
35. Tenant charged with killing woman in Hurley home (video)
36. Management shakeup at Ulster Savings Bank
37. Police shoot Highland girl, 17, in stolen car
38. Kingston businessman accused of fondling job applicant
39. Boy escaped van, swam to safety before mom drowned self, 3 kids in Hudson River
40. WHAT HAPPENED TO JOE? Teen’s disappearance still a mystery after nearly 25 years
41. Mayor raps cops for not knowing beforehand about party where shootings occurred
42. EDITORIAL: School superintendent, police chief missing in action
43. Death of Ulster County Sheriff’s Office detective sergeant being investigated
44. Flooding continues in much of Ulster County
45. Carnright urges calm among Kingston residents riled by unruly youths
46. Rhinebeck man charged with stabbing patient at Northeast Center
47. Victim ID’d in Accord snowmobile crash
48. Disco singer Andrea True, 68, dies in Kingston; had hit with ‘More, More, More’ (with video of song)
49. Zach Green’s family gets closure but still wants answers
50. Driver inattentiveness cited in crash that killed corrections officer

UPDATE 2: The comment on this post also made me rethink the ranking criteria, which is the headline, and not the URL where the story resides, meaning that if a story changes through the day, as stories are wont to do, different headlines will change the rankings. The headline ranking reflects how many people saw a story as it was written. A URL ranking reflects a story re-written multiple times, where the last version ends up being dramatically different from the original. Both rankings have value.
So I did another ranking based on URLs. Here are the 10 based on that. Remember, there were different headlines on the same story, I'm displaying the last headline used.


1. Man says son, 32, missing since Sunday
2. Germantown man presumed dead in Hudson River plane crash

3. Kingston man, 31, found dead, police say

4. Tenant charged with killing woman in Hurley home

5. Authorities: None of six boaters in accident that killed four were wearing life jackets (new video)

6. Police say body found in Esopus Creek is missing Saugerties man Zachary Green


7. Crash on Thruway in Ulster kills veteran corrections officer

8. Freeman editor pulls suicidal woman from bridge railing (video)

9. Kingston cop on leave amid payroll probe; safe removed from office

10. Boat survivor’s feat amazes father; 2 people injured in crash that killed 4 could be hospitalized for weeks

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

DFM Chat on 2012 projects

Good morning! Members of the Journal Register Company's Idealab - and everyone else who wants to - are going to be taking part on the weekly Twitter chat at noon. Once again, note the name change: It's no longer #jrcchat but #dfmchat, to reflect the inclusion of Media News Group into Digital First Media, which also manages Journal Register.

Today we're talking about journalistic projects for 2012.

The live feed is posted below. But you can also follow the chat here or here or also here. And you can also check out past chats over here.

If you want to chime in, just post a tweet with the hashtag "#dfmchat" so it can automatically appear below, or post a comment in the field at the bottom of the chat box.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Santa arrives in Woodstock in a rocket ship

It's a known tradition. Santa arrives in Woodstock every Christmas Eve in many peculiar and unannounced ways.
This year, he came in a rocket ship, thanks to Steve Heller of Fabulous Furniture in Boiceville, no doubt. Here's a tweet from writer Martha Frankel (Heller's other half), explaining.



The video description states:

The Lindsey Webster Band sang on a float in front. The float was setup as his workshop, complete with his elves, tools, giant toys, a Jack in the Box jumping up and down, a dancing ballerina, nutcrackers, and with him riding in the Rocket Ship on top. Of course he was accompanied by the famous dancing Woodstock Reindeer and Frosty the Snow Woman. Produced by Cinemanomoly
2010:



2009:

2008:

You get the idea.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Happy Holidays from Andy Boyle

Who's Andy Boyle? He's a bearded web developer for the Boston Globe, somewhat famous Twitter witness of Broken Dreams, owner of a cat and person who has never done many a thing. He posted this:

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Journalistic predictions for 2012, the serious, the bad and the tweets

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

You know you're a digital journalist when ...




DFM chat on Digital First journalists

Good morning! Members of the Journal Register Company's Idealab - and everyone else who wants to - are going to be taking part on the weekly Twitter chat at noon. Note the name change: It's no longer #jrcchat but #dfmchat, to reflect the inclusion of Media News Group into Digital First Media, which also manages Journal Register.

Today we're talking about, well Digital First journalists: What does that mean, how we do it and what to expect. And a few surprises.

The live feed is posted below. But you can also follow the chat here or here or also here. And you can also check out past chats over here.

If you want to chime in, just post a tweet with the hashtag "#dfmchat" so it can automatically appear below, or post a comment in the field at the bottom of the chat box.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Why is the tree on Broadway and Henry Street in Kingston not lit this year?

The latest complaint on seeclickfix: Why is the tree on Broadway and Henry Street in Kingston not lit this year? 'Tis the season, and inquiring minds want to know.

How to make QR codes work, really

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Preview cover in one minute

And this is how the sauce is made.

Story ideas

What are we working on in the Life Department? ' Glad you asked.

What would you like us to work on?

Monday, December 12, 2011

Ulster County Charter conference liveblog

Anne Pyburn of the Watershed Post is set to liveblog a conference at SUNY New Paltz  from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. about the Ulster County Charter after five years. I've kindly stolen the liveblog code after I found it hanging out naked on the Watershed Post site. After alerting the alert editors, they gave me the OK to include their coverage.

Panelists include County Executive Mike Hein, Comptroller Elliott Auerbach, former Freeman political editor Hugh Reynolds (! and ?), former charter commission head Gerald Benjamin and a hosts of other notables.
 

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Twitter embed test

New interface. New sandbox. Here we go.

Another one

Virginia Tech Shooting live reports

I'm piling up this as much for me as for you, as I'm trying to follow what's going on.

 

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

JRC Chat on news initiatives

Good morning! Members of the Journal Register Company's Idealab - and everyone else who wants to - are going to be taking part on the weekly Twitter chat at noon.

Today we're talking about news initiatives for 2012: What we're planning, how to do it and what to expect.

The live feed is posted below. But you can also follow the chat here or here or also here. And you can also check out past chats over here.

If you want to chime in, just post a tweet with the hashtag "#jrcchat" so it can automatically appear below, or post a comment in the field at the bottom of the chat box.

Thursday, December 1, 2011