The Digital Desk

Everything you ever wanted to know about NewsOK.com

A detailed picture of DOC and prison escapees December 20, 2011 | Comment on this article

Last week, we launched a pretty cool project that paints a detailed picture of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections and prison escapees from Oklahoma. Reporters Tiffany Gibson and Matt Patterson worked closely with web editor Nick Tankersley and Art Director Todd Pendleton to create an online presentation that... Read More

The well-told story of Freckles Brown and Tornado

December 18, 2011 We put together another nDepth – Stories of the Ages piece for Sunday. It’s called, “The Ride,” and it focuses on the most famous “Eight Seconds in Rodeo History” when Freckles Brown stayed atop Tornado in 1967. The story appeared on the front page of The Oklahoman on Sunday and was featured... Read More

The Buckles family takes on the digital transition

December 16, 2011 Local Editor Rick Green doesn’t just organize the news coverage every day while constantly juggling conversations and opinions of news reporters and managing editors. No, even though he has one of the toughest jobs in the OPUBCO building, Rick apparently still finds time to read the paper cover to cover... Read More

Hearing praise from a fan of the NewsOK app & a fan of the Barons December 15, 2011 Sports writer/columnist/reporter/expert/personality Berry Tramel shared this email with me last week: Can’t thank you enough for the newsok app. Living in South Carolina, it brings me in touch with what’s happening in news and sports (mostly sports for me) back home. I was hoping you could... Read More

Tweet for the First Amendment; Win a scholarship December 14, 2011 I admit it. I don’t post a lot on Twitter. But make no mistake. I think Twitter is awesome. I do a ton of listening on Twitter. And I’m a big advocate. The biggest reason I’m such a fan of the tool is that I see how The Oklahoman’s reporters and editors cultivate sources, share information and... Read More

Send a Christmas greeting to troops around the world

December 12, 2011 Want to send a message to those serving our country around the world? Want to share a specific message with a friend or family member serving our country and let others know about it? Want to tag a a friend or family member serving our country? Just post a message on the NewsOK “Show Your Thanks to Oklahoma... Read More

NewsOK TV app worth a spot on your home screen

December 08, 2011 The NewsOK TV app in the iTunes store might be the coolest app we have that we don’t talk about enough. We’ve had it for quite a while — well over a year, I know. But our latest update (released in the iTunes store on Nov. 29) really makes it a nice addition to your phone. We added push notifications to the... Read More

NewsOK Sports honored with APSE award for third straight year

December 06, 2011 This doesn’t happen often, but breaking news has reached The Digital Desk Blog. The Oklahoman and NewsOK have been honored for the third consecutive year by the Associated Press Sports Editors as one of the top 10 sports web sites. Here’s a link to my post about last year’s award. Yeah, I know what you’re... Read More

Catching up on the OSU bowl updates on NewsOK

December 04, 2011 I wasn’t at my house for the live coverage of the BCS announcement last night. I missed the live show and immediate opinions from the experts. That’s OK. I think I know what they all said. But I did get immediate word of the BCS poll results, thanks to NewsOK’s text alerts and email updates. I saw it... Read More

Seeking Truth: nDepth piece shares Dr. R. Murali Krishna’s story

November 29, 2011 Kelly Dyer Fry wrote another heart-wrenching piece. This time, instead of sharing the gripping story of addiction within her own family, she shared an equally gripping account of an equally challenging affliction from the family of Dr. R. Murali Krishna. The title is Seeking Truth: Where is my Amma? It shares... Read More

A honey badger tattoo for NewsOK’s honey badger reporter

November 23, 2011 Bryan Dean was a fan of the honey badger before it was cool to be a fan of the honey badger. Yeah, now we all like the honey badger. It’s easy to be a honey badger fan ever since the funny video went viral months ago. If you’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t seen it, you should... Read More

A look back at all the coverage of the OSU plane crash

November 21, 2011 It’s been a wild few days on NewsOK, beginning last Friday morning when news of the tragic plane crash in Arkansas that killed four members of the OSU Family. Women’s basketball coach Kurt Budke and assistant coach Miranda Serna were on the plane, something confirmed by our reporters early Friday morning. From... Read More

The Thirsty Beagle blog and the Beer Championship Series finals

November 15, 2011 Nick Trougakos is the Assistant Local Editor is charge of our Metro section/coverage. That’s what he does during the day, anyway. After that, he becomes the Thirsty Beagle, offering news and commentary on all aspects of the world of beer. In the past month or so, Nick — er — the “Thirsty Beagle” has... Read More

Gene Triplett enters the Hall of Fame

November 11, 2011 Our own Gene Triplett was honored Thursday night with his induction in to the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. He joined other Oklahoma greats like Wayman Tisdale, Nokie Edwards, Bob Bogle, Jesse Ed Davis, Ralph Blane, Cheevers Toppah and Kristin Chenoweth. Yeah, we ran a story that led with the world-famous... Read More

‘Get well’ page for Ryan Broyles captures attention of community

November 10, 2011 On Saturday, the OU football team lost to injury the most prolific receiver in the the school’s history. Ryan Broyles suffered a season-ending injury to his knee. His disappointment was captured on live television as the news was broken to him and his teammates. His chance to play in a final Bedlam game was... Read More

‘Finding a Forever Family’ — a special NewsOK nDepth story

November 06, 2011 In the midst of all the earthquake madness this weekend, you might have missed a special nDepth presentation we put together and launched on Saturday night on NewsOK.com. So take the time to read “Finding a Forever Family” when you have a few spare minutes. It’s a story told by OPUBCO’s own Michelle... Read More

Most-viewed items on NewsOK in October

October 31, 2011 It’s Halloween, which means it’s a fine time to review the most-viewed content on NewsOK.com in October 2011. Before I go any further, though, I should point out that October was a great month for web traffic on NewsOK, but it didn’t quite break our all-time record. There are a few hours left, but it looks... Read More

The Oklahoman iPad/iPhone app in Newsstand for iOS 5 October 28, 2011 The Oklahoman’s custom iPad application took another step with the release of Apple’s iOS 5 a couple weeks ago. Our app became one of the first news applications in Apple’s Newsstand. Your next question might be … “What is Newsstand?” Well, if you have already upgraded your iPad or iPhone to iOS 5,... Read More

Web editor honored as next-gen star

October 25, 2011 Lindsay Houts works every day behind the scenes to organize our sports content and share it with our audience in a way that’s neatly packaged and digestible. But our newest web editor was front and center last Thursday evening as she was honored at the 30/30 Next Gen Awards at the Gaylord-Pickens Museum. The... Read More

Brave & Beautiful — watch the video October 23, 2011 I post this blog today only to tell people that they should read Dave Morris’ blog post about the Brave and Beautiful video on NewsOK. Dave is our video director here at OPUBCO Communications Group, but you probably know him best as a NewsOK.tv host. But he does plenty of work behind the camera, too. From his... Read More