Matt Brown, left, and Eric Davis rock the Messenger studio.

When we started incorporating video into our editorial products last year, we saw it as a way to provide breaking news video. Our breaking news videos have been the most popular of our videos based on the number of hits we receive. We’ve also had success with our sports highlight videos.

We are starting to incorporate video into our feature stories more. The story in today’s paper gave us an excellent opportunity to pair video with a traditional feature story in the paper. Travis Measley’s story on two Boyd High School students who won a band contest for playing heavy metal music on guitar was great on its own. But we also had the young musicians come to our studio where they played the music that earned them the gold. I hope readers take the opportunity to visit the video after they read the story. It’s one thing to be able to describe the music in words, but its something else to be able to hear it for yourself. You can also hear the two students talk about their music and the contest.

The use of sound slides has also been a way to enhance the feature story experience for readers. Perhaps the best example of this was the feature on bowyer Mark Horne. That allowed us to use Joe’s excellent photos and the audio-gathering and editing talents of Andrew May to create a story separate from the feature we ran in the paper. As with the guitar players, the audio allowed readers to hear the person in his own voice.

We’d love to hear feedback on what you think of our story/video pairing.

NATIONAL FLAG - The Dallas-Fort Worth Airport Fire Department shoots water over the arriving jet Thursday carrying the United States Honor Flag, used to honor police officers killed in the line of duty. The flag was brought to Bridgeport to honor Sgt. Randy White who was killed April 2.

HONORING SGT. RANDY WHITE - Officer Todd Low passes the United States Honor Flag to Lt. Steve Stanford at the memorial.

As I was reading the Thursday paper just now, it occured to me that I wasn’t familiar with the United States Honor Flag that was brought here for Sgt. Randy White’s funeral yesterday.

According to its Web site, http://www.ushonorflag.org, the flag was given as a gift to Chris Heisler by the Texas House of Representatives shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and he took it to Ground Zero, where it was flown.

After a suggestion that it continue to fly in support of U.S. heroes, Heisler carried the flag to Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq where it flew with American solidiers in combat.

We all know what a dangerous job law enforcement officers have and, I think, rarely consider one in our rural area to be in emminant danger any given day. But last Thursday, one man – a man my age, might I add – was just doing his job when his life was taken so tragically.

I think it’s fitting that a flag that has honored so many of our brave protectors was brought here to honor him.

I was headed to Granbury for the North and East Texas Press Association’s annual convention when I heard the call on the radio. DPS Sgt. Lloyd McKinney was following a pickup suspected in a hit and run east on Hale Street. At the time, I was about four blocks away, probably less than a minute from turning onto Hale myself.

As I headed south on Farm Road 51, I continued to listen to the chase on the police scanner in the car. It sounded like officers had lost him in some rough terrain. I passed Texas 114 and kept heading south when I heard the chase had started again. This time the driver was headed down FM 51 across the railroad tracks. I was about five minutes ahead of him at the time. As I continued south toward Springtown, even as the scanner began to static, I could hear the seriousness of the situation. I heard an officer say there had been a wreck. It involved an officer. I hear an urgency I had never heard from an officer before when he practically yelled for dispatch to get a helicopter in route. Moments later, the call went out for a justice of the peace.

I hoped I had heard it wrong. The scanner was cutting in and out, and maybe I didn’t hear it right. When I got to the conference, a call from the newsroom confirmed the tragic news. We had a reporter, photographer and videographer on the scene collecting information. We knew an officer had been killed, but we honored the wishes of the Bridgeport Police Department to hold off on reporting that information until after the family had been notified.

We published the information on our Web site as it was available. Joe Duty sent back photos, reporter Travis Measley and Messenger General Manager Mark Jordan called in reports, and Andrew May videoed the interview with the DPS public information officer.

When it came time to determine what we were going to do with the paper, we knew this would not be the typical front page. By the time the paper would hit the streets Saturday, most everybody would have seen the pictures of the wreck and know the basic story, either through our Web site or the television stations covering the death of a police officer. I felt like the front page needed to be somber, yet respectful. It didn’t seem right to lead with the wreck photo. The image that kept coming to my mind was the simple gesture that all police officers display when one of their brothers has fallen: a single black band around their badge. Joe went back to the Bridgeport Police Department Friday morning and took a photo of the badge. That photo told the story, probably better than words could. So why even use words? We ran the full-page photo. A couple of times we had a headline with it, but it seemed to take away from the simple image of the photo. We decided to simply add at the bottom “Sgt. Randy White, 1977-2009.”

We devoted page 2 and 3 to explaining the numerous angles of the story. We had a story about the chase and the wreck. Denny Deady did an excellent job at helping readers feel like they knew Randy with her biographical piece. Assistant Editor Kristen Tribe provided information on the suspect, Stephen York, and another story on how the law enforcement community came together to allow Bridgeport officers and dispatchers the chance to grieve. We also included information on where people could donate money to help White’s family. Production manager Todd Griffith worked up an informative map showing the route York took before the tragic accident.

All of the photos, stories and graphics were used to try to answer the questions that readers would have, even though the toughest question may never be answered: why?