Convergence Revolution

Convergence is robust and happening in cities big and small. In Denver, reporters from the city's two major dailies appear on television. The University of Missouri’s morning daily, the Columbia, Missourian has a new service revolutionizing how people get their paper. It’s site reads: 'eMprint (Electronic Media Print) is a new hybrid digital publishing platform that merges the familiar qualities of a printed newspaper with the interactive features of the Web in a magazine-like format.'

The service is one of many new technologies being rolled out to generate interest – while newspaper circulations plummet. Convergence isn't coming. It's here. Longtime-Georgia-broadcaster-turned-blogging-media-critic Dick McMichael is exploring the topic. He even suggests a book might be in order. It could be a hot seller. Outside of college texts, it is uncharted territory, probably because changes are so rapid, no one’s writing about it in-depth for fear their book will be outdated soon after a printing run. The trend is so encompassing the University of Missouri has added it as a sequence, right alongside its three historic sequences of broadcasting, print and advertisting. In a sign of the times, Yahoo! even recruited former NBC war correspondent Kevin Sites for a feature known as Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone. He now files his reports online.

The trend will undoubtedly continue and we'll follow the big developments here.

Echoes of Columbine

Seven years ago, I was reporting from Clement Park, the Littleton park adjacent to Columbine High School. Anyone who covered Columbine will tell you it left searing memories – not just on those involved – but on legions of seasoned journalists who rushed to cover the story. At the time, I was a 17-year-old cub reporter filing stories for stations across the country. The impact was three-fold…a national-level crisis was unfolding in the state I love most. A sanctuary of learning, where safety should never be compromised was now marred with bodies, bombs and pools of blood; textbooks in the school library – tools for learning, were stained with cerebral fluid. The pain seemed personal. I was reporting on a massacre of people my age, my peers.

On Wednesday, a tidal wave of Columbine memories flooded audiences across the nation as gunman Duane Morrison took students at Platte Canyon High School hostage making Colorado one of only two states to be the scene of two school shootings.

Coincidentally, moments before I learned I would anchor KOMU’s national report for the first time, I got word from a colleague on the unfolding scene in the tiny mountain town of Bailey. I had spent a decent amount of time there too during both the massive Hayman and Hi Meadow wildfires. I immediately tuned in to Denver stations, listening and watching many of the same reporters from Columbine. My stomach was put in a knot. The only reassuring fact was the number of students inside the school was low, and several hostages had been released. This country has become accustomed to students killing classmates. This time it was not a student though. Morrison was 53-years-old, a drifter who a former neighbor says was gruff and customarily aloof.

Why?

The same haunting question asked throughout Columbine is being posed once again: why? Who was Duane Morrison and what were his motivations? Morrison had a criminal history, but only for minor offenses. Those who knew him say they never expected this. What compels a grown man to perpetrate such a crime? Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener thinks he may have an answer. The sheriff says Morrison left a suicide note. Wegener has yet to elaborate on what it says. Like Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, Morrison may have addressed his motivations. Sadly, in the end, he had to address his emotions not only with words, but weapons.

***There are more blog entries to come on this topic. They have been delayed until now due to other stories Skamenca is working.***

Juarez Murders Arrest

This week's Denver arrest in the murders of Juarez women was a stunner with an interesting back story, just as we were all getting our footing on the Ramsey arrest.

ICE or Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it has tied suspect Edgar Alvarez-Cruz to at least 10 of the 300-plus murders. The story wasn't supposed to be announced by ICE until Friday. But the Mexican Ambassador put out a press release a day early. One Denver reporter tells me the surprise announcement was made out of embarassment --something to consider given the scrutiny authorities in the Mexican state of Chihuahua have been under.