Question and Answer

A comment two posts before this one asks why I'm in New York. Truth be told, a story brings me here. Aired last fall, KBIA's Sarah Ashworth, Kyle Palmer and I produced "What's on the Line?," a 30-minute documentary analyzing the threat from the New Madrid fault line. After Hurricane Katrina, we decided it imperative to look at the most active fault outside California. A little history explains why. In 1811 and 1812, the region was decimated by not one, not two, but three 7-8.0 earthquakes. Seismologists say it's only a matter time before the region rattles again. "What's on the Line" looked at how prepared the region -- spanning from south of Memphis to north of Saint Louis -- is for a major quake. What we found was the fourth most feared natural disaster in the United States could present first responders with colossal challenges and a death toll in the tens of thousands.

Earlier this year, we were informed the documentary won a national Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio-Television News Directors Association. So to answer the question, I'm here on behalf of the station to accept that award. I am still beside myself.

The trip, so far, has been unbelievably surreal, though that could just be explained by a severe lack of sleep and full agenda. On Friday, I had the pleasure of meeting and briefly visiting with two of the most esteemed investigative journalists in our country, Ed Bradley and Steve Kroft of "60 Minutes."

I've been to New York before. But this trip, despite the jam-packed itinerary, is truly wonderful. Thank you for the interest. I intend on writing a little about the dinner and banquet tomorrow evening.

Bombshell Backslide

Suddenly there is no prime suspect in the JonBenet Ramsey case. After a week-and-a-half of intense media coverage and speculation, Boulder DA Mary Lacy has dropped the arrest warrant against John Mark Karr. Numerous unsolicited alibis made many of us in the media immediately skeptical of his role in the case. But then he was brought to Boulder, many assumed it was because authorities possessed damning evidence. Tonight, that is simply not the case. So what can be said of the past eleven days? First consider what will be said in the coming days. The case against Karr is all but assuredly over. Unless there is a surprise piece of evidence, a colossal mistake was made not only by authorities but by those of us in the news media who thought this could be the end to a nearly ten-year-old case. Titillating, bizarre and overreaching…each of those words could be used in a sentence to describe how we covered this story. Though I think there was some reason behind the instant focus on an arrest. Bear in mind, no arrest had ever before been made in the case. And aside from the temptation to report what seemed to be a bombshell development, there were a lot of people who truly hoped this was the end – an idea certainly welcomed by those who hoped the intense media spotlight might – after a trial – be dimmed.