Beyond90Seconds. What does it mean?
Back in my television reporting days, reporters typically received 70 seconds for their package (pre-recorded and edited segment of a news story).
In many cases, the anchor(s) read a 10-second lead-in to introduce the reporter.
And the reporter—whether at a remote location or in the studio—had 10 seconds of copy before tossing to his or her package.
In many cases, there was no time allotted for any cross talk or Q & A after the package.
Meaning, it wasn’t uncommon for the time dedicated to a reporter’s story to top-out at around 90 seconds.
When this blog started back around 2007, the approach here was to find compelling stories and provide far more depth than you’d commonly find in local news coverage.
In other words, go Beyond 90 Seconds.
In 2008—a year in which I’d turned down an opportunity to sign a new contract with my television employer, resulting in more “free time” between jobs—this blog certainly rose to the challenge of digging deeper and providing in-depth news coverage.
That year, Beyond 90 Seconds had exclusive interviews and a very strong following for its deep and long-dedicated coverage of the Strong City “cult” in New Mexico.
This blog also provided unique and informative content regarding the murder of Juliana Redding in Sacramento, California.
Another murder (it often receives mentions in news stories today) was the death of a high school teen named Jamiel Shaw.
Very early on in the Shaw investigation, Beyond 90 Seconds recognized not only the obvious tragedy in that story, but also the compelling factors that addressed political, legal and social issues, as well.
To my knowledge, Beyond 90 Seconds was the first media outlet of any kind (mainstream or social) to obtain and publish a mugshot of the suspect in the Shaw case (the mugshot was from a previous arrest).
Now, if you’re interested in the whole story behind Beyond 90 Seconds, then you might be interested to know that it is not my first online venture that went “beyond 90 seconds.”
Way back in 1999, I knew I had a story that needed far more digging…and more air time…than what the local newsroom could afford to give me.
So, I learned how to make a website in the early fall of ’99.
That site was dedicated to the presumed murder and disappearance of a woman named Girly Chew Hossencofft.
My coverage of the Hossencofft case lasted nearly five years, ultimately resulting in numerous national television appearances in the US and elsewhere.
My website on the Hossencofft case also played an important role in generating exclusive stories, establishing contact and a relationship with the victim’s family in Malaysia, and with other people associated with the case, too.
The website also played a key role in my securing a New York literary agent and, ultimately, a book deal with Kensington Publishing Corp.
Over 18 years, my Hossencofft case website has received a few makeovers, and changing URLs.
Today, that web address, septembersacrifice.com, incorporates the title of my book about the case, September Sacrifice.
In recent years, I have not made blogging a priority.
A career change, a big move, raising young children, a daughter who battled and survived brain cancer, the loss of a parent, the loss of two of my closest friends…have all resulted in the need for higher priorities.
I suppose one might simply call all of that, “life.”
But it seems I’ve reached a time and place in my life, now, where it feels the timing is right to feed my passion for digging, writing, storytelling, and maybe even breaking some news, again.
Expect to see more from Beyond 90 Seconds soon.
Sincerely,
Mark Horner
May 27, 2017