Gold-digging in Indiana

With gold prices peaking this summer at more than $1,200 an ounce, some people are seeking their fortunes in Indiana's streams. They're panning for gold. Hoosier gold.

I wrote a full feature in the Indianapolis Star, entitled Hoosiers Go Looking For Gold, a surprise hit!

Here was a slide show of the photos of gold prospectors.

The Associated Press picked up the story, as did The Kentucky "Courier-Journal", The Greencastle "Banner Graphic" and "Daily World", "Jconline" from Lafayette, "The mining Industry Today", USA Today, WIBC radio 93.1, "Indiatimes", "UPI", Topix, and RoadRunner. It was also on the Fox-59 news web site, WNDU-16 website, and The Mining Industry today.

In January 2010, I was asked by the Public Relations Society of America, Hoosier chapter, to pen a guest column for their February newsletter.

This was a fun assignment.

Here's what I wrote:

Do-It-Yourself News By: Tom Spalding

On Jan. 12, at Kilroy's bar in Downtown Indianapolis, a jubilant bunch of sports enthusiasts gathered for a 3 p.m. announcement about the Circle City's chances of landing a World Cup, soccer's most prestigious event. It was a big deal for Indy not Super Bowl 2012 big - but a breaking news story worth pursuing certainly.

The Star had a reporter at Kilroy's to cover the event, but as a 21st-century version of the disc jockey -- grab news and spin it into a story for our Web site, IndyStar.com -- my job was to watch for a simultaneous e-mail about the announcement. When it was learned that Indy was picked in the final 18 out of 27, I immediately went to Twitter.

I was third to make the announcement.

No other media beat me to it. It was a bunch of fellow Twitterers from that emerging social media service. Worse, it wasn't another scoop-minded reporter, but the media relations coordinator from Conrad Hotel Indianapolis (good job, Morgan Greenlee) and a couple of others. When I saw THEIR posts, my first reaction was, "Hey, that's my job." You know, the old school way -- source-to-reporter-to-audience. You tell me and then I spring into action, taking 20 years of journalism experienced learned in J-School at the University of Kentucky and crafted at newspapers in Sarasota, Fla., Indianapolis and a few other stops.

Not so. Scoop is a term that used to be limited to just the broadcast and print media, and a twinge of angst is felt every time the IBJ or another competitor gets a heads-up on an event we don't have.

But now the masses are on equal footing. Part of the blame lies on us. We taught folks they could do it themselves by having them using a service on our Web site that has been in place at the Star long before Twitter emerged. With shrunken staffs unable to respond to every request for news coverage, we turned to a kind of Matador approach.

If you get the facts right and names spelled correctly and it doesn't come off completely ad like, it's all yours to "post" on our site. No it's not the same as having your client land on A1 or one of our news section covers. But I hope that it's going to be easy to adapt to, because that's the future.

Here's the web version of the newsletter with my article in it.

Earthquake in Haiti

My short on Indiana Task Force 1 was included in USA Today's online presentation. Here is the link to the story.

In Indiana: Indy rescue unit prepares to help

Indiana Task Force One -- a search and rescue team of firefighters, medics, doctors and others -- is on standby today in case the group's building-search skills are called upon in Haiti.

The team's coordinator, Indianapolis Fire Department Battalion Chief William Brown, said by phone today from New Mexico that he's reached out to key planners on the Indiana team to make sure their passports are up to date and discuss other logistics that would be involved with an international rescue effort.

Task Force One, based at Indianapolis International Airport, is one of 28 teams linked to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Its 70-member team is filled with experts from local fire departments who can locate and extract people who are trapped within a collapsed structure caused by a natural disaster or act of terrorism. The team also has 12 search dogs.



Brown said a team in Virginia and one in California may be deployed to Haiti because of specific training it has in international response efforts. But others could be called in.

"We're paying attention. We're staying fluid," Brown said.

The Indiana Task Force, which was created about 20 years ago, last deployed in summer 2008 to the Gulf Coast and eastern Texas, where they spent three weeks assisting victims in the aftermath of hurricanes Gustav and Ike. The team also looked for victims in the flooded-out neighborhoods of Biloxi, Miss., after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and was one of the first teams to be activated after the World Trade Center terrorist attacks in 2001.

-- By Tom Spalding, IndyStar.com

Web work: Kendra's baby

I have a good eye at at spotting what's going to be a top-read Web story. [At least I think I do.]

With the Dec. 12, 2009 story on the birth of ex-Playboy star Kendra Wilkinson, archived here I had three of the top 10 most-read stories during the 30-day window.

Bad call and bodyguard bump

The day after a stunning decision by Patriots coach Bill Belichick helped Indy to a 35-34 win over New England, I turned a standard "fan" practice of Googling into a story.

The NFL began to looking into a postgame incident where Bill Belichick’s security guy and a cameraman came into contact with an NBC cameraman. I wrote NFL probes cameraman's fall, as well as folo-ups along with Web colleague Scott Thien, and got thousands of page views over several days.

Web work: Peeps!

My story on Peeps made USA Today. Click here to read the link to "Peeps maker sues greeting card firm."

My tagline appeared in a USA Today story about H1N1 flu, "Vaccine arrives as flu spreads." That same story was published in the Indy Star.

Pump prices stunned Hoosiers

A year ago on this date, Hoosiers paid an average of $4.17 per gallon at Indiana filling stations -- an all-time high that experts say won't be threatened in the record books any time soon. It was the lead story in my Fresh Start newsletter and also was a top page-click on Indystar.com.