News CJ&N Newsletter

At the end of November, four members of the Lakewood, Washington, police department were murdered while sitting in a coffee shop. While the attack quickly dominated the Seattle news market (along with the rest of the nation), KOMO-TV was able to engage viewers closest to the crime scene at a level out of reach of other stations.

As we wrote about in our August 18 edition, KOMO has a network of web sites, each dedicated to news coverage of one of dozens of Seattle area neighborhoods. Lakewood was not one of them, but parent Fisher Communications instantly recognized the need, and in just hours a new Lakewood site was created. While all the media covered the killings, the capture of the suspect, and the wrenching funerals, only KOMO was able to connect with the Lakewood community at a personal level. They were able to point viewers to the site for unmatched depth of coverage, including how the community itself came together to heal. KOMO was able to tell its on-air viewers to look to the Lakewood neighborhood site as a single location for all news related to the story.

KOMO News Director Holly Gauntt told us she believes it was that kind of coverage that - whether it's a traumatic police shooting or a community band concert - helps viewers bond with KOMO to a degree that can't be equalled by other media sources: "In TV news, we often hear we only focus on the bad news. With only 22 minutes of content in a newscast, we don't have much choice. With the web sites, we can offer the stories that show we're concerned about what happens in every community. We can do the stories about heart-warming fund raisers, and messages of encouragement, and the things that tie a community together."

KOMO has 45 of these sites, with plans to add many more over time. At KOMO, all of those news releases and announcements that end up in the trash at most stations are instead channeled to a team of five web producers. Plus, there is content being called in to them from the field by news staff. When they come upon an item of interest, they'll stop and use their iPhones to grab video and ask questions. In five minutes they have it posted. Holly likens the process to Twitter: "They'll write, 'I'm going to talk to the fire chief, and 45 minutes later, will say, 'The fire chief told me... ." Content also pours in from other station employees, a team of cooperating real estate agents, and members of the public.

The system, Holly believes, has made the KOMO on-air product better: "We opened up new channels, including people who might not watch us on TV, but they now feel they have a relationship with us. We're in their neighborhoods now, much more so than our competitors."

Fisher is syndicating its neighborhood news site system. ABC-owned WLNE/Providence launched its version last week.