The goal of this blog is to take you behind the scenes on the stories that I do, the news decisions that were made, and any extra information that was left out of the story. From time-to-time I will also be blogging about various news, sports, and entertainment stories that I think are of interest to you, the viewer...or in this case, the reader. Your comments on blog entries are welcome...just keep it clean! And if you have a story idea, send it my way at daniel.novick@kfoxtv.com. You can also follow me on Twitter -Click Here Thanks for reading!

Paranormal Activity In El Paso

11/1/2009

If you haven't heard yet, I did a story on Friday about paranormal activity in El Paso. Story - Click Here

This has easily become one of my favorite stories in the four plus years of my career.

First off, everything was real. Like I said on Friday, except for a little bit of music added at the beginning and the end, everything you heard and saw actually happened. And like I also said on Friday, I went from being very skeptical about spirits and ghosts and paranormal activity, to being an absolute believer. There simply was no explanation as to why we heard those sounds, and why I felt the things that I felt.

But it has become one of my favorite stories not so much because of the actual story or the experience, but because of the reaction. I can only think of a handful of stories I have done that has gotten such a positive response. Everyone I have spoken with has loved the story. That made all the hours of watching video and listening to sound, and my photojournalist Joe Najera editing the piece, completely worth it.

If you have an issue with the story, I think the issue with the story could be, 'Is this news?' I will admit, it is not hard news. This is not a murder or a big investigative piece (that's coming on Tuesday by the way), but I still think it is news. There are people here in El Paso who spend six or eight hours a night a couple of times a month looking for paranormal activity in the Sun City. They spend their evenings in pitch black talking to no one...or at least no one still alive. They have jobs as receptionists and engineers and they have to get their kids ready for school the next day, but they'll go with little to no sleep the next day to be a part of something very unique. It is not hard news, but it is certainly a story.

If nothing else, I hope you were entertained by it all, and maybe you'll think twice next time something unexplainable happens at your home or place of work.

El Paso Has Ugliest Guys In America

10/21/2009

By now you have heard the story about the ugliest men in the United States, and El Paso, Texas tops the list Story - Click Here. It has been a while that we have done such a fun story, especially leading with it during KFOX News at 6 on Tuesday! And for the record, I am originally from Seattle!

While we all got a good laugh, and it certainly got the city talking, the facts behind why El Paso got the title are nothing to laugh at.

Totalbeauty.com ranked El Paso's guys as the ugliest in America for the following reasons:

- 15 percent of El Paso men have less than a 9th grade education

- 32 percent of El Paso men are below average health

- 30 percent do not exercise regularly

These are serious statistics and should not be taken lightly. These statistics should be a wake-up call that we need to pay closer attention to dropout rates and education. We need to pay closer attention to what we eat and how often we exercise. We need to pay closer attention to these things, so that all of us can live longer, healthier and more fulfilling lives.

It got us all talking and laughing, but now we got to change our habits.

Craziness At County Commissioners Court

10/7/2009

Sorry I haven't written in a while. As I am sure you have noticed, we do "Special Assignments" during certain times of the year...February, May, July and November. These months are our ratings periods where we find out how many people are watching us and thus can tell advertisers how much they should pay for a spot during our newscast. So we put in some extra interesting stories to attract you, the viewer.

Usually we wait until the last minute to turn these stories being the procrastinators that we are, but for November, we actually are trying to get all of them done weeks in advance. So for the last month all of my spare time has been spent working on two really good "Special Assignments" for November. I can't reveal what they are...just tune in on Oct. 29 and Nov. 2 for some good stuff.

But now that most of my work on those is behind me, I have time for another blog entry!

Monday at County Commissioners Court was crazy. After covering court for the last year plus, little surprises me, but Monday's events were very surprising.

As the commissioners introduced the agenda item to approve the budget, the final procedural thing they must do before the budget becomes official, an assistant county attorney stepped to the podium. All they had to do was vote for it, and it was done...so what was a member of the county attorney's office doing?

She had in her hand a temporary restraining order from Constable Jesus Ramirez holding up the budget approval process (Read the story here). So the commissioners couldn't approve the budget. What does that mean?

We come to find out that essentially unless the restraining order was resolved, El Paso County government could come to a grinding halt. Paychecks wouldn't have gone out this Friday. Payment for contractual services would not be paid. And the list goes on.

What's crazier, the temporary restraining order was signed at 11:31am, in my recollection less than half an hour before the budget was going to be voted on. Had the commissioners just moved up the budget agenda item, none of this would have happened.

In the afternoon the attorney for Ramirez, the county attorney and a judge worked out a new temporary restraining order that separated the constable issue from the rest of the county budget, and commissioners were able to pass the budget. But what if that hadn't worked out?

What should have taken one minute to pass the budget turned into an exciting day. I guess you just never know what will happen on any given Monday!

Is It News? You Make The Call

9/14/2009

Often times in a newsroom we come across a story and we have to determine a number of things: 1. Is it news? 2. Do our viewers care? 3. How are we going to tell the story? And the list goes on.

That first question, is it news, can often times create a very large debate in a newsroom on nearly any story.

On Sunday night we had a real difficult one. Around 9:30pm we found out an infant baby had been left at the door step of fire station #22 in West El Paso. So is that news?

Many of you would say yes, that is news...but not so fast. Our newsroom was very split about whether to put something on the air about it (remember, we were right in the middle of KFOX News at Nine). In the end, we decided not to run the story.

Why you might ask? Because if you do not want to keep your baby and for whatever reason you do not go through the adoption process, taking the baby and leaving it at a fire station is by law accepted

Under the "baby Moses" law here in Texas, fire stations, among other places, are considered "safe places" to bring that baby. The child is left in good hands, and the parents can remain anonymous -- a goal that person or people probably had in mind when they decided to not keep the baby, but also not go through the typical adoption process.

So with the incident on Sunday night, a person or people in a difficult situation did the right thing. The baby was not left in a dumpster or some other horrible place, but instead was placed at a fire station, a place where they are trained to handle these kind of situations.

In my opinion, that is not news, or breaking news or a developing story that we would add in the middle of a newscast. The person or people who dropped off that baby did so because they wanted to remain anonymous and they cared for the well being of the child. If we go and report on every baby left at a "safe place," how many parents out there would be hesitant to do the right thing, out of fear that the media might find out who they are?

We have a policy at KFOX that many newsrooms have. Except under extreme circumstances, we do not report on suicides. The theory goes, if you report on suicides, some might be encouraged to commit a suicide just for the attention.

I apply that theory in the opposite way. If we report on babies left at "safe places," then some parents might be encouraged to NOT do the right thing.

While the weekend staff decided not to air the story, our morning staff did, and you saw KFOX Morning Reporter Brenda Medina reporting on the baby left at fire station #22. I do not fault KFOX Morning News for doing the story, as they believed it was news and that was the decision made. Many will agree that was the right call, and I am wrong. In fact, many media outlets on Sunday night also reported on the story.

And throughout the day I have been asking people what they would have done and it is evenly split.

The one thing we can all agree on was that tonight's story on KFOX News at Six by Monica Balderrama that explained the "baby Moses" law and what happens next was an appropriate story. So many El Pasoans do not know about this law and it was extremely informative.

So, were we right on KFOX News at Nine weekend to not air the story, or was KFOX Morning News right for airing the story? I would love to read your comments.

Reflecting On The Launch

9/7/2009

It has been about a week and a half now since Danny Olivas and the rest of the STS-128 crew launched into space, and this is really my first chance to reflect on what I got to see.

Everyone told me night launches are better than daytime launches. After getting the very special opportunity to see both, I would say one is not better than the other, just different.

During the daytime launch of STS-117 in June 2007, I described the launch as some of the most vivid colors of red, orange and yellow that I have ever seen in my life. It was like combining HD with blu-ray and showing it on an IMAX screen. I honestly had never seen such spectacular colors.

The night launch was just bright. You go from the pitch black sky to an incredibly "stare at the sun" bright yellow. And the Florida coastline goes from night to day, an opposite solar eclipse if you will.

Both were incredible and both were something I will never forget.

The other very cool thing I got to do came yesterday, when I had a chance to interview Danny from the International Space Station. Think about that for a second. I was here on the ground, and Danny was in a vehicle traveling more than 17,000 miles per hour more than 200 miles above Earth. Technology is amazing. You can watch the story here.

I am so grateful that I get the opportunity to do these kinds of things. It has been a truly amazing experience.

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