A reporter and a photojournalist for Minneapolis NBC affiliate KARE deliberately crashed a trailer for a report on towing safety this week.

The report, which aired Wednesday, featured an interview with a woman whose husband and three-year-old daughter died after a trailer came unhitched from an oncoming pickup truck while they were driving. Reporter Boyd Huppert and photojournalist Jonathan Malat staged the crash to demonstrate the consequences of not “properly pack, haul and tow items like canoes, kayaks and mattresses.”

Poynter’s Al Tompkins takes a behind-the-scenes look at the process of putting the report together:

“The people in HR were rightfully concerned about how we were going to do this,” Huppert said. “We had a couple of first responders, officers from the highway patrol and Minnesota Department of Transportation folks there helping up.” He continued: “At one point our news director told me if I didn’t feel safe driving the vehicle that was towing the trailer that she would drive it. No way was I going to let that happen.”

The MNDOT workers rigged a closed test track road with a couple of bumps intended to jar the improperly attached trailer loose when it hit. Malat attached GoPro miniature cameras to the tongue of the trailer, to the top of the trailer, down low on the back of the truck, inside the truck, and high on the truck. “I did tell my chief photographer that we might tear up some gear on this one,” Malat said. “Dumb luck we didn’t.”

Watch the report after the jump. Read more

RTDNA has announced the winners of the 2013 regional Edward R. Murrow Awards.

The big winners were Boston ABC affiliate WCVB with 7 awards, Denver NBC affiliate KUSA with nine awards, Seattle NBC affiliate KING with eight awards and Minneapolis NBC affiliate KARE with ten awards in the large market category for their regions.

The most dominant small market stations in their respective regions were Tulsa, OK, ABC affiliate KTUL with six awards and New Orleans FOX affiliate WVUE with nine awards.

You can view the complete list of winners by clicking here.

The University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism has announced the 2013 winners of the Walter Cronkite Awards for Excellence in Television Political Journalism.

KARE, Gannett’s NBC affiliate in Minneapolis-St. Paul, won for local broadcast station. The judges cited its coverage of the marriage equality debate, calling KARE’s reporting “fair, balanced and deeply personal.” WBNS in Columbus received a special commendation for citizen engagement. Denver’s KUSA was the winner of the Cronkite/Jackson Prize for Fact Checking Political Messages, a category that was just introduced to the awards this year.

• Related, TVNewser: ABC News, CNN Win Cronkite Awards

Two reporters were honored for individual achievement at a local broadcast station. Marshall Zelinger, a content producer and presenter at KMGH in Denver, won for his “clarity of presentation” and “modern production techniques.” Tom McKee, a reporter at WCPO in Cincinnatti, received the special commendation for citizen engagement for his his extensive fieldwork. Read more

Just four months after joining KWCH, news director John Soares is leaving the Wichita CBS affiliate.

“I met with my newsroom staff on Monday to let them know that I am remaining with the station through Friday to facilitate the transition to an interim news director,” Soares told TVSpy in an email.

Tipsters tell TVSpy the interim news director is Tom Lindner, a former news director at KARE in Minneapolis.

Despite rumors to the contrary, Soares told TVSpy he is not headed to Oklahoma City to replace Mary Ann Eckstein at KFOR.

“There is no truth whatsoever to the rumor of me heading to KFOR in Oklahoma City,” he said.

KARE anchor Julie Nelson profiled former reporter Phil Johnston who is one-half of the team who penned Disney’s latest animated film, “Wreck-it Ralph”.  You can watch the video after the jump.

“Once upon a time,” Johnston, who worked for KARE, told the Minneapolis NBC affiliate’s anchor. “There was a guy who ended up doing exactly what he wanted to do and will hopefully get that privilege the rest of his life”

Johnston also wrote the film, “Cedar Rapids” which he said was inspired by his experiences as a reporter for KARE.

Read more

Multimedia journalist Jeremiah Jacobsen is joining the morning newscast at KARE, the NBC affiliate in Minneapolis.

Jacobsen joins KARE after five years at WINK in Fort Myers, where he was most recently the weekend anchor and political reporter. The Minnesota native will begin at his new job on December 3.

Jacobsen will be working overnight to produce and edit the morning newscast. He will be anchoring the 4:30 a.m. newscast and will lead breaking news coverage during the 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. hours.

Rena Sarigianopoulos has been named Saturday morning co-host at KARE, the NBC affiliate in Minneapolis.

Sarigianopoulos will co-host the program with meteorologist Belinda Jensen beginning October 13. The newscast will air from 8 to 10 a.m. on Saturday mornings. In a statement, news director Jane Helmke called the pair “a dynamic and engaging team for our community.”

Sarigianopoulos will continue to anchor the weekend evening newscasts alongside Blake McCoy.

Blake McCoy is joining Minneapolis NBC-affiliate KARE as the weekend anchor, the station announced today.

McCoy begins next month alongside Rena Sarigianopoulos, who has been weekend anchor since 2009. He replaces Eric Perkins, who made the move to sports director at the station last month.

In a statement announcing the hire, news director Jane Helmke described McCoy as a “smart, exceptional journalist eager to call the Twin Cities his home.”

McCoy was most recently a weekend anchor and reporter at KTNV, the ABC-affiliate in Las Vegas. He joins Sarigianopoulos, meteorologist Jerrid Sebesta and Dave Schwartz, who was recently promoted to weekend sports anchor and reporter, beginning September 17.

Randy Shaver, the newly-minted evening anchor at KARE, is temporarily off the air after a bike accident earlier this week left him with a broken arm and bruises on his legs and face.

While riding his bike Tuesday evening, Shaver turned a corner and found a teenage boy stopped on his side of the path. He slammed on the brakes and flipped over the bike’s handle bars, the Pioneer Press reports.

“I’m sure I’m quite a few days away from being able to put on any sort of makeup to cover myself,” Shaver said . “My arm will be in a sling and a cast for four to six weeks.” Read more

Annie Stensrud, the former KEYC weekend anchor who was arrested for DUI weeks after slurring her words while anchoring a weekend newscast, is speaking out.

In an interview with KARE (watch above), Stensrud said she has not watched the entire video of the slurred newscast. Her performance that night not the result of drinking but because of a bad reaction to anti-anxiety medication she was taking, she said. Read more