Examples of well-done video work at The Oakland Press

This video from the scene of an SUV that crashed into a building was done by broadcast intern Krystle Anderson, shot and edited by herself. Here's one by videographer Doug Bauman working with intern Alexa Bray. From a recent apartment fire — filmed by video programmer Aftab Borka. This was the first video done by Joe Gray, who at the time was an editor for a weekly publication, completed after JRC video training. He's now Online Editor for The News Herald, part of the Heritage group in Michigan. He filmed and edited this video by himself (with a Flipcam). Reporter Carol Hopkins shot and edited this video (with a Flipcam). Print intern Alex Barhorst worked with broadcast intern Blake Strobl on this video.

The Oakland Press launches News at Noon show

Aftab Borka films Chris Nelson anchoring "News at Noon"

We're not your grandfather's newspaper.

Operating on the belief that we can use a variety of platforms to deliver well-rounded story packages, The Oakland Press has placed a huge emphasis on making use of video and audio to help us tell stories. 

The amount of video and audio content we're creating made a newscast a perfect fit to showcase that work. The idea led us to launch the show "News at Noon."

"The show has great value because it promotes the videos that our staffers produce and gives our readers/viewers an opportunity to get all the top news of the day in a few minutes," said Aftab Borka, video program producer for The Oakland Press. 

Borka coordinates the newscast, which runs Mondays through Fridays, and regularly anchors it.

"We have been experimenting for months to come up with something that is competitive with Detroit newcasts by offering a more Oakland-centric flavor," said Executive Editor Glenn Gilbert. "(It's) struck a chord with readers, moving into our daily top 20 for page views." 

Viewership of the news show has been growing since its launch on May 21. Recent shows have climbed into the top 10 spot for the month of June — not an easy feat for videos that aren't crime or breaking news related. 

"We think it is a hit and may offer a good platform for an advertising sponsor," Gilbert said. 

Beyond showcasing the videos produced by Oakland Press staffers, "News at Noon" also features regular commentary from locally well-known writers like sports columnist Pat Caputo and entertainment writer Gary Graff. Online Editor Stephen Frye does a video blog once weekly for the show and News Editor Matt Myftiu contributes his "Tech Time" reviews. 

"News at Noon" logo

Political reporter Charles Crumm is a regular contributor, providing both audio sound bites from politicians and commentary on political stories.

The show has also provided an opportunity for broadcast interns to both host and produce a professional show. Former Specs Howard School of Media Arts interns Chris Nelson and Brittany Wright have both anchored the show and are now helping on a freelance basis, as has Oakland University journalism student Emmy Lucas.

"It makes great use of videos we are already producing and is a snappy, six minute summary of the day's top stories put up on our site at a time when viewership is high and TV isn't offering anything," Gilbert said. 

Stay tuned — and yes, we get to say that now.

Our show on May 24 featured video from a tragic crash that injured a police officer

The June 12 show caught our audience up on a city commission meeting that was bombarded by people openly carrying guns