Looks like we have JB in here now I think we should just give it another minute or two to allow people to join. And then we'll let JB give his introduction and we'll go ahead and get started.
Hope you're all excited. Hey mods, can you make sure that you we may continue talking so people can check their audio and make sure that they can hear us? As I love that idea,
because some people are going, I'm not hearing anything and I'm like, no one's talking. Yeah. You just have to get started. To get started, JB is getting himself a cup of coffee. Before we begin, we do have a chat channel set up for users to discuss the AMA and talk. There's also a thread that is pinned on this channel called Ask follow up questions where you can ask your follow up questions to anything that comes up during the AMA.
Yeah, absolutely.
I know I don't have to say this, but please keep your questions respectful. And keep in mind that JB cannot answer questions that are meant for law enforcement. He doesn't have that information.
Yeah,
of course and also if you need like ideas for questions, you can try to get a little bit creative with it as long as it's all respectful so I'm sure he be open to more things about how the story has impacted his view of journalism, things like that. How it might have changed like you've used the field, just day to day practices.
This is your opportunity.
Should we give in till 1105 doing one more minute
so and then Meantime, how's everybody doing? I guess guys have a chat you guys can respond to Adam. Today What's up?
Who is your favorite co anchor? It's Brian Anson isn't it?
Worse Yeah, how we feel on everyone? Are we hyped for
this?
No, I am call me feeling good Yeah, it's
GB I mean think about this guy's like we have all been watching his streams like almost every day for a month and like this is it now the keys here like the legend himself is here.
Like that's amazing. You're gonna scare him away. He knows how much we love.
I am no legend. I am a friendly humble everyday local newscaster that is but I appreciate some of the other kind comments here. Thank you
JB Do you want to go ahead and introduce yourself? I mean we all know who you are but you do want to say a little something to get started and then
we can start to question door
Hello everyone here on Discord. This is my first time on discord and I just like to start by first and foremost to saying an enormous thank you to all the mods who have been doing extraordinary work here. I am well versed. Enough in online forums to know when moderators just put tremendous amounts of TLC into the work that they do. And to add to me and to Brooke and to and to Adam, and to Kyle and to everybody on here, all the mods who have been working around the clock to make this an inclusive place for you guys to chat. I think I speak for all the all the folks here in the audience and just saying a big thank you to them.
And thank you for the warm invitation to be here. today. We're going to we're going to go over a lot of there's been a lot of questions. And it's just been overwhelmingly flattering to see some of the very tired remarks. Some of the things that have been said about about the work that I do and I just want to say that from the bottom of my heart, that means a lot to me. And thank you and it's a it's a pleasure to be here with everyone today. But I think I would just like to start here by answering a question that isn't in the queue here a question that isn't on a list and the first question that I'm just gonna answer is why am I here today? Why? Why am I here on discord? I think that that's an important an important question to answer here. And first and foremost, I'm here because I want to be I'm not on the clock at home. I was joking with the mods here during testing here a moment ago, I'm just in my pajamas with a cup of coffee in my in my cocoa mug, Disney Disney's cocoa if anybody knows that movie, it's one of my favorite Disney movies.
And I'm just sitting here in my dining room looking out on a beautiful day out my front, my front window here in Tampa. And I I'm sure that many I'm not I'm not alone in being in my pajamas here and just enjoying a very nice and hopefully cozy Sunday morning to anybody that is on the road driving, please keep your eyes on the road. I know that a lot of folks who will be listening in on long road trips or, or if they're working this Sunday and and perhaps traveling across the country, to everybody who's listening in and I just very much appreciate you being here. But I'm here on discord because I want to be on here on discord because of again, an overwhelmingly one invitation by the moderators here who reached out to me. And then also I'm going to get into this. But I think that it's extremely important that these conversations take place, journalism. And I am I am part of a subcategory of my industry called interactive journalism.
And I think it's extremely important for these conversations to be had there shouldn't be this massive disconnect between people who tell stories on the news and between the audience that actually watches the news or listens to the news or reads the news. I'm very much a big believer in interacting with with people that they consume the news that we report every day. So I'll get into that here. I think that there's a good first question that we're going to get into here to kind of address some of that. But I really look forward to chatting with all of you here today. And from the bottom of my heart a big, big warm thank you to everybody who has made me feel so welcome here in the school.
Thank you for getting us started JB Adam is going to ask the first question, and I believe there are four months who will ask questions in alphabetical order.
All right.
Well, thank you so much again, JB an honor to have you here. So our first question is this. Hey, JB, how has the Gabby Petito case and the number of eyes on w la changed the way you view and practice
journalism? That's a great
question. I'm glad that we started on this one. And this was literally the first one that was that was sent my way here from from, from the mods like, like Adam here, and this is this is an interesting question. I'm going to kind of give everybody here a little bit of a behind the scenes answer as to how this works as far as journalism as far as how modern day journalism works.
And first and foremost, journalism always is about finding truth, seeking truth, reporting facts that journalism will never stray from that. And it's important that that is always the core of journalism. But journalism has endured a dramatic shift and change over the last 20 years because of social media. Because of how people consume news. No one really waits for the six o'clock news anymore to get their day's worth of information. That's how broadcast journalism used to be people would, would turn on their they'd be with their you know, with their family and be eating dinner and it would turn on their six o'clock news and watch their local newscast because they wanted to know what they missed over the course of the day.
That doesn't happen anymore. No one's really turning on their news to get a summation of the day's events. The reality is that you're getting a summation of the day's events over the course of the day in real time it's happening because the phones in the palm of your hand and because of our ever present connection to technology, I want to give you guys a little bit of a behind the scenes nugget of information as far as, as far as what's been going on in, in the broadcast industry in the news industry, and kind of my role within it. And why this plays to a little bit of a of a bigger, a larger idea that goes beyond just the Gabby Petito story, in that in a newsroom these days, every newsroom in America, whether it's a local newsroom for a newspaper, or whether it's a radio station, it's a digital outlet or to television station, whatever the media outlet is just about every newsroom in America these days has screens on it, that show you real time analytics. And when a story is posted on social media, when a story is shared out with a push alert, or story is published to a website or a story is it you hear all the time about ratings?
Yeah, ratings are ratings is an archaic term ratings goes back to the days of TV as far as Nielsen ratings. And it's evolved so dramatically over the last decade to now where there's real time analytics that monitor how you consume a news story. And these screens are massive in our newsroom. They're massive in just about every other newsroom in America. And they show almost instantaneously. What happens when we post a news story or publish something or go live with something. And it will show whether or not you care. And it will show whether or not it or if you don't care. And we'll see facts and stats statistics such as, okay, we post the story and receive 9000 comments within the first hour. And over the years
that has formed
a de has formed that is given a means of feedback to people that report the news and to management at news organizations as to what people care about more people don't care about.
And I this has bothered me a lot
over the years, increasingly more so over the years. And I will want to we will be talking a lot about Gabby petitto here and we'll be talking a lot about Brian Laundrie. But I want to make this very, very clear for our audience here in that 99% of newsrooms in America. Don't read your comments. They don't participate in forums like this court, they don't go on Reddit. They don't even look at their own Facebook comments section to see what you're saying in response to a news story.
They'll look at a number and say, Wow, 9000 people commented on this story. But 99% of newsrooms in America don't won't go into those 9000 comments and read exactly how you're reacting to a news story. This is deep at the core of what I believe, as far as interactive journalism, I have been fighting a battle over the last, this is going back now five, six years, and trying to convince people in my industry, that what you have to say and what the response to a particular news story really does matter. And when I say that 99% of newsrooms don't look into your comments into your feedback and what you're commenting on a story, whether its political, whether it's crime related, whether it's related to weather or whatever the whatever the story might be, it's not that they don't want to read it. It's that just like so many other industries in America, they are so strapped for resources, and they can't have somebody committed to reading through how you're reacting to a particular news story. It's just not it's not a modern day newsroom role. People are cranking out new stories rather than looking at how you respond to them.
I've been trying to change that. And wF les now he's very much a big part of that in that what's one of the reasons why we do the hash tag system with bringing up your comments on screen. I very much deeply care about what you have to say in response to a news story. I want to know how our audience reacts to the things that we talk about on air. And so it journalism to answer this question is first question journalism will always be rooted in fact, it will always be rooted in reality, and it's about finding truth, but it's it's changing here as far as how we interact with you. news anchors for so many years would go on their six o'clock news read from a teleprompter read from a pre scripted set of information. And then they go home every day and then that's it there. It's a one way street. Then bringing information to you.
That's that's that's arcade to me. That is a that is that is the past and Wi Fi now it's very much an interactive journalism and interactive streaming. It's very much about Bringing what you have to say to the forefront of the conversation, what are you saying, and then trying to highlight that the people that consume our news should be the most important to be the most important resource for how we go about the stories that we cover. And there's always a process for how we determine the stories that we cover.
But if our viewers comments from social media isn't part of the conversation, then you're very much rooted in the 90s, you're very much rooted in believing the 2000s. And I think that there is a, a, a battle that has been going on, it was a very lonely battle for a very long time for many, many years, I would get laughed at, I would get laughed at in my industry for saying we need to, we need to look more closely at what people are saying, Let's not look at the number of comments, let's look at the quality of the comments into what people are actually saying. And the narrative is really shifted over the years, and the Gabby Petito story has brought and shed a light and put a spotlight on interactive journalism, and changing the way that we go about telling new stories and goes about changing how we interact with our audience, not post story, but as the story is live.
So I won't go I won't be this long winded with all of the questions that are here. But I wanted to give everybody a brief overview or a somewhat brief overview of just this particular question and how things are changing, and how the Gabby Petito story has shed light on interactive journalism, and how what you have to say, on forums such as Facebook, live YouTube live on Twitter, if you're on discord on Reddit, on these platforms, what would you have to say really does matter more than it ever really has? And I think in the years ahead, there's going to be even more focus on real time conversations that take place between news organizations and with their audience. Thank you JB
I just want to real quick say who that question was from should have done that the beginning so sorry, that question was from like, Clara.
Alright, me here. Okay, our
next question comes from Sasa tech. It is Oh, no, I'm sorry. It's actually from minty. And it is what has been the hardest part of covering this story for you and the wF la team, personally and
professionally. This is an easy one, this is a really
easy What's the hardest part covering the story is is the staggering amounts of unknown throughout the process, stories usually don't have this much amount of secrecy. But when you have the FBI involved and the FBI leading the way here now the FBI, this is what they do. This is their mo they are notoriously and it's very much it's very much um, when it comes to what how you see it in Netflix shows and Hulu and the FBI is is as secretive is any organization that there is as far as communicating to the to the mass public. And the hardest part is dealing with all of the unknown, and there is so much unknown now we have been able to fill in a lot of the gaps over the last, the last several weeks things have been have come to light, it's been a slow trickle. But just so much unknown here with this story has made it extremely difficult. And when you're relying on somebody like Steven bertolino for for information and getting the most information from him, and you're not getting anything really from law enforcement, really as far as a steady flow of information that can make things extraordinarily difficult. Again, it's all about finding facts.
It's all about seeking truth. It's all trying to get to the bottom of what happened here between Gabby, and what happened between Gabby and Brian. And when there's just so much unknown, it can be really hard professionally Now personally, what has been the hardest part, just long hours. I have a mountain of laundry that I need to get through. I have a I my wife and I are. I grew up in a very traditional household. My mother handled all of the household chores, and I'm not like that I my wife and I split our household chores 5050 and even during you know extremely different even though she has offered to step up I'm very much like no, it's my job to do this chore, that chore, this tour and that chore and so I'm a little bit behind on that personally but everything else personally I can report is fine. I just need to get a little bit caught up on on laundry. I hammered out dishes yesterday, so glad to get dishes out of the way and a couple of other chores that are desperately needing my attention.
But that's other than other than that personally, I have covered a lot of news stories that have been traumatic. You, you learn and I know there are more questions about this but you learn Oh Over time, how to how to treat yourself. And there's been so many people asking me about, How are you, JB? How are you? How are you personally? How are you mentally? And this? This isn't I've been in the news industry for some time. This isn't the first news story that I've covered. That is traumatic. And while I do appreciate a lot of those comments that have been coming in, I have I have, for better or for worse, I have a great deal of experience dealing with, with traumatic topics. And so I appreciate everybody who's
who's asked that question. Thank you.
And Brooke, will ask the next question.
Hi, JB. So
I'm going to pull a question from our thread that's going on right now in this server? Because I think it goes well with the first question that was asked. And I think you can probably expand a little bit on the interactive journalism we were talking about. So this question comes from Aria underscore, and it is how has covering the Gabby Petito case impacted the way you will cover future missing persons cases?
Wow, you know, I'll just say
that it's not going to change the methodology, it's not going to change or what I should read, it's not going to change how we approach it a story in my opinion, wF Li now has been we've covered other missing person cases, I think there'll be a delay now and, and our, our department for interactive journalism, the Wi Fi has really just now coming to the forefront. I don't think anybody really knew who I was eight weeks ago. But here we are, this is not Wi Fi now isn't a new thing. This is something that's been around for some time. I think that I think that missing person cases in this country need more exposure. And we've heard that from Joe petitto. You've heard that from from Nicky Schmidt.
We've heard that from the family that they very much want there to be more attention paid, paid to missing person cases, I'm very proud. And also my first time name dropping Brian Enton here, Brian Enton, and I worked at the same company. It's nexstar broadcasting, and nexstar broadcasting owns wF delay, owns about 190 other television stations across the country. And they all own us nation. News nation is a very new thing. In fact, I was part of the conception of news nation about a year ago, I was up there in Chicago and helping them launch their live streaming efforts, because they wanted to. They wanted to do interactive journalism. And I was very much part of that that conversation. So Brian and I are very much very much colleagues, but news nation has launched a missing in America series. And it's going to every week, it's going to highlight different missing person cases.
And I think that that's just something that we can all get behind the more attention that we can bring to some of the other missing persons that and these families that are just devastated because they don't know where their loved one is. I think that that is extremely important. And I look forward to hopefully highlighting it we it's not as if we've been ignoring missing persons cases. But I think that now there's a conversation now that is really progressing forward with how we can use social media, how we can use interactive journalism and how we can get more exposure to missing person cases similar to what has happened here with with Gabby Petito.
Thank you, JB.
All right, Adam.
I'm going to throw it back to you.
All right. So then our next question is going to be from Sasa tech. How does w FMLA verify sources and what is the protocol for reporters? When they get some new they get some new something new and that they have yet to that and verified?
This is um, this is a this is a question is very good question. And we and vetting is extraordinarily important because it is so easy these days to for for somebody to troll the media. I'll tell you a story, a semi semi funny story here and there. Yes, I say semi funny story here in a moment. But to answer the question here, we go through a very rigorous process management is involved with how we vet sources. And first and foremost, the number one step in embedding is to confirm the identity of the person and make sure that the person that is giving presenting information or presenting
any form of testimony, anything that that is going to be used for a news purpose, ensuring that that is that person. And that has been complicated by the pandemic. People of course, we have digital communication has been transformed by things like zoom, we're doing interviews by zoom more work, communicating with people electronically more than ever rather than in person. And it's not as if we're meeting in a shady parking garage, or somebody you know, with a with a With a with a concealed identity as passing as documents, and that's not how it works, we first and foremost you confirm the identity of the person and then you establish a rapport with them. And then you look more and whether they're providing you information or they're prying, providing documentation, whatever it is, you then go through a very rigorous process to ensure that what you are receiving is authentic and met. It's the real deal.
But there are people out there that that that actively look to troll the media and look to and just, you know, for the, they have their own reasons, but people that will look to try to take advantage of the of the media, I will tell you a story, a brief story is my cat is just kind of just now, coming up here on the table and sniffing my coffee. I will tell you a story that happened about a couple years ago, we we had here, one of the most beautiful beaches here in the Tampa Bay Area's Clearwater Beach. And all of a sudden, we had these videos come into the newsroom, three videos from three different people with over the course of an hour and a half. And they it was it was witness views iPhone video, looking out over Clearwater Beach, and it was the most massive shark fin you've ever seen. It was it was people were freaking out on the beach, there was a massive scene. And people were freaking out because an extremely shallow water, there was an enormous, an enormous shark fin. And these videos kept coming into the newsroom and people were freaking out and were contacting, you know, Clearwater police and Clearwater authorities, because there was a massive scene at Clearwater Beach.
And so we took the videos and we went live on Wi Fi now. And we said, Hey everybody, this is just we can't confirm any of this information. But this is these are the videos that just came into our newsroom. And there's an enormous shark fin and people are star running from the beach and telling others to scream and get out of the water because an enormous shark appears to be in this water. Well lo and behold I'm sure everybody here knows where I'm going with this. This was all a massive fabrication that this would there was a YouTuber who built the shark fin out of wood and got all of his friends invited his friends to to stage this massive scene of his stare at this hysteria on the beach. And they shot it on iPhones to make it look real and they sent it into their local news station to try to prank the news. And we never went live with it. We never said that this was in fact the real that week I was I was with it on Wi Fi now and I said that there's a very good chance this is fake just because of the size of the shark thing. But to them they had seen it as a victory because they had gotten on the news and they practice it was a whole big thing.
But it just goes to show that there are people out there that are actively trying to prank the news all the time. So the vetting process and the process of making sure that something is legitimate is extremely thorough. And that was the moment where on WWE now that we we probably shouldn't have gone with that video until we we we had it confirmed it was almost a little bit of a lesson learned for us but it's it's just a even though it's not an example that really pertains to Gabby pitino. It's just an example that people will go to extraordinary lengths to try to come off as the real thing. This is a guy who spent a long amount of time building a a wooded a wooded sharkfin he had straps to attach it to his back, he had scuba tanks part of it because he had to stay underneath the water and kick slowly underneath the water.
They stayed they had, you know, 2030 people on the beach to stage the scene of hysteria. So we we have a we have a very thorough process here. When it comes to vetting information, making sure it's the real deal. While that's kind of a trivial example, it just goes to show that there are a lot of people out there that that want to do more harm than good. And and it's it's it's it's frustrating. It's frustrating, but we have a very thorough process to ensure that when we go with information with a case and such as the Gabby Petito/Brian Laundrie case that we do not go with that information until it's thoroughly vetted and approved by news management
at Wi Fi. Great,
thank you so much. jp Andy, back to you.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Thrasher. And it is hey JB, do you think the FBI should release some of the details of what they may know about Brian laundries whereabouts provided that it doesn't compromise the case. I just feel once the public figured out details about the known location they were able to find her faster thanks to people in the area who had filmed the van and at Fort DeSoto People had come forward with videos
and pictures. It's an excellent question. And it's an extremely
difficult one to answer. This question doesn't get asked 20 years ago, there's just no way the FBI would never release information at all, whether it would compromise the investigation or not compromise the investigation this this, this is a very 2021 question. And it's because of people like like yourselves here on discord and the folks that have been on Reddit and the folks that have been on, on on social media combing through every aspect of the story, the sleuthing that has gone on with this story. And the idea here and based on what I'm reading into this question is good the FBI release information that doesn't compromise the investigation, but could perhaps produce tips and leads that could be advantageous for the FBI to find out where Brian Laundrie is or find out exactly what happened there in in Wyoming and it's an extremely difficult question to answer but the mo for the FBI is to not release any information. And I think that I'm very curious as to whether or not that conversation is happening behind closed doors is there information that can be released to the public that doesn't compromise the investigation that could turn up leads from the public? I don't think that that's really how the FBI operates do I think that they should do that? I can't say because I just don't know the the circumstances surrounding the the evidence that has that that has been you know, gathered by the FBI it's extremely difficult to
answer
but I can tell you this I can I can assure you this be the FBI has a department that is combing through the online activity surrounding this this case and going through what's some of the not that they're reading Reddit not that they're reading comments like that but they are that there is a very much a digital and online component to this especially when you consider the fact that Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie were so visible on their cross country road trip on social media. And I think that, um, you know, I think that there's, there's there's a way out there's there's an evolution happening here with online sleuthing. But the problem is that there's so much misinformation that's out there. As much as there are so many well intentioned people out there that are trying to do the right thing. The FBI opening it up and putting out information out there to hopefully produce leads and in trying to take advantage of the tremendous online community that has been trying to help from day one also opens them up to a massive amount of land landmines of misinformation, and they can get flooded with more misinformation than credible information likely would.
So I think that the FBI is going to stick to the playbook they're going to stick to what they know they're going to stick to what they do and they're going to do everything that they can to bring this story to a resolution but I do I do wonder whether or not that conversation was ever even remotely considered as far as whether or not to to release a shred of information to the public that could turn out information to help them find out perhaps where Brian is or what happened between Gabby and Brian
on the road. Thank you go ahead All right.
So this question comes from cyber which in the follow up questions thread it says hey from Michigan JP out of all the information surrounding the case that we don't know what are you the most interested in learning slash having come to life? what's frustrating for you the most to not know
what happened? I want to know what happens Um,
I think that we all to picture what we think happened on the road between Gabby and Brian I think that of course I want to know what happened between Gabby and Brian. I want to know more about
what that trip back was like.
I want to know more about when if Chris and Roberta Laundrie were given when they were given any information regarding where Gabby was how how how honest how honest was Brian when he returned home in telling his parents and telling Cassie for that matter to how honest was he with his with his parents? did was it we don't know what kind of a relationship Brian Laundrie has with his parents Christian number. We just don't, we don't. And there's a scenario where He's extremely ashamed and doesn't tell them the truth or tells them, you know, partial truth, or he just lies.
So easy to lie
and tell somebody, something other than the truth. And we just don't know the dynamic between Brian and his parents. And we just don't know what,
what they knew.
But there's some, there's just some things that just don't sit well in my gut. And I know that we have a few 100 people here, and I'm sure that this doesn't sit well in their gut either. When I say things like, Brian, why didn't you take Joe and Nicole's calls when you were back in Florida? Why did you avoid taking questions? and answering the most simple question of all Where's Gabby? Why don't you tell your future mother and father in law? Where you thought Gabby was why did you ignore them
for days, they're
getting in early September, they are getting more and more nervous, more and more scared, and more and more desperate, as to where Gabby is, they're calling you around the clock, they're texting you they're doing everything that they can to reach out to you. And you're not giving them any information. Why?
Why were you silent?
Why wouldn't why wouldn't Christian Roberta, take questions? We'll take take a phone call from Joe and Nicole. Why didn't that happen? And then, I think we'll talk more about this later. But I just and I talked about this a little bit on stream, I can't get over the camping trip. camping trip is so weird. It's so bizarre. It's It's so
it's such like
a normal thing to do for a family that at the time was clearly experiencing abnormal circumstances in their lives to just kind of go camping. That That to me just I'll try to answer some of these questions more more quickly here. But the camping trip, always to me as kind of just not sat right in my gut. And the more and more I've thought about it the last several days, more and more, I just, I can't understand what that was about.
Totally agree. And I think we've had a lot of conversations here on the server about that camping trip and how strange it seems to go camping for two months, and I come home and go camping again. So totally hear you on that one. Thank you, JP Adam. Go ahead.
All right. Thanks, Brooke. And thank you again JP. So this one is from Aqua Venus. And the question is what made you want to become a journalist? Hello,
these names Aqua, Venus, cyber, which is there. love I love the names here. Again, big big thank you to everybody here on Discord. It's been it's been. It's been really really flattering. What made me become a journalist. I just love I love telling stories. I just really very much always loved telling stories. And I was that kid who would you know, at Thanksgiving or Christmas? I was always the one who
I love to talk
and doing what I do. It's it's, it's certainly it's certainly a good thing that that I can talk for as long as I can. I there there aren't too many places on the internet where you're or too many places in the news industry, I should say rather where you're just kind of talking sometimes for hours without a commercial break without an opportunity to take a drink of water. it's it's a it's certainly a strange thing that I do as far as streaming news streaming. But what made me want to become a journalist, I think that I just really enjoyed telling stories. I was I was a lost soul in college. I went to college and I originally was going to be a psychologist. And I think I struggled a lot in my in my first couple of years as a college students. I went to school, Albany in upstate New York, and I and I had no idea what I wanted to do. And then when one day I kind of looked at myself in the mirror and I was trying to figure out what I was good at. And I realized I was good at running my mouth.
And I said wow, you know, I wonder if there's an industry where I can run my mouth for a living. And here we are. Um, so I think I just really enjoyed telling stories earlier in my career, I was what you would call a general assignment reporter where you basically doing what Brian Ensign does, and going out and conducting interviews and being the boots on the ground. That's really what being a general ga general assignment reporter is. It's It's being the boots on the ground collecting information. And I want to make that very, very clear here as well, because I know that Brian Ensign is another beloved figure Gear Online, especially in places like Reddit and on Twitter and here on Discord. And Brian and I have very, very dramatically different roles. And I used to do that role I used to do what Brian does as far as being the soldier on the ground collecting information.
And, and my role shifted, you know, kind of gradually over the last six years to where now I am in, you know, I'm an interactive streaming anchor, and it could be very, very different. Brian could be the one yeah, you know, sitting in a, in a studio space and, and talking to viewers and I can be the boots on the ground. It's just, it's just kind of that's how our, how our roles kind of, you know, sort of developed over the years, you know, you kind of do what you're good at. And I think that interacting with our audience in real time is something that our, our news managers looked at and said, this is something that that JB clearly, clearly um, he, you know, he knows what he's doing. And Brian Ensign got the job as the Florida correspondent for news nation, because he's an outstanding reporter.
And it's really let me just let me just kind of talk about Brian here for a second. It's the person who I've been following Brian's work for for a long time. And it's really refreshing to me to see Brian Ensign finally be getting the recognition that he deserves, because he's an outstanding reporter. And I wouldn't just say that the guys if I, if I didn't really mean it, just like any profession in the world, there are people that are good. There are people that are great. And then there are people who are just go above and beyond and I think Brian is certainly somebody who has really gone above and beyond with the story as far as always staying very much rooted in fact, and doing a really great job at bringing the guys I can can we just talk for a second about how Brian is so dedicated to the day to day happenings of the story that he had 130,000 people watch Chris Laundrie, mow his lawn one day? I could not. I could not believe that.
I mean, I think that Brian probably got a little bit of flack online because it's like, wow, this is what this story has gone to. We're watching a man mow his lawn. But that just goes to show Brian's dedication that he's asking questions to Chris Laundrie while he's mowing his lawn. If that doesn't speak to the dedication of a journalist I but I'll tell you that if it was me, I would have been out there doing the same thing. I would have been right there asking questions to Chris Laundrie, and trying to get information from him while he was out there mowing his lawn. But your folks, you're not alone. If you were watching that, and thinking like, wow, this is this is this is what this story has come to. We're watching a man mow his lawn right now. And there's 130,000 people who have watched this over the course of a few hours. So
big big shout out to Brian Ensign and our other reporters. Alison Henning. Justin Shekar mostess at Walt Beto, some of the ones that you guys Those are my direct colleagues, Brian Ensign works for news nation. But my direct colleagues in the ones in the Wi Fi newsroom says Alison, Justin, Josh walls masa and, and others who I work with every day.
And their true tremendous as well. Awesome.
Thank you so much, JP. And I think that you know, the fact that you and Brian are so close is something that a lot of us here really appreciate because you know, we love him here too. We love both of you guys. So we'd love to hear that you're you have that kind of level of connection with each other. Thank you so much for that. Alright me back to you.
Thank you shout out to Brian Denton. We definitely follow him very closely in the server here too. I'm pulling a question from the follow up questions regarding one of the previous questions that was asked. Hey JB, you speak about betting sources has wF la debunked the source that claims of Brian being caught on camera by a neighbor running away from the Laundrie house on September 17. And the YouTuber who claims he found Brian and a little abandoned shack at the reserve. Notice that wF LA and news nation haven't mentioned either of these two claims that comes from
Kara
that is part of that. And that is part of the process that we go through to ensure the authenticity of a piece of information or have a thread to particular story on both of those. There hasn't been enough for us to go with and has been to the question Have we debunked them? I don't think that we have actively I can't speak for Brian, Brian is is as much as we're allies. We do have our, you know, our different, you know, our different sort of processes for how we we go about and what we're pursuing and Particular on a particular day. But I can speak for why that we haven't debunked it. But this is this is what this is where things get a little bit hairy. As far as that sort of those sorts of claims and those sorts of threads of information. We, when it's not confirmed and verified by a credible news source, such as web layer, such as news nation, and when it's not debunked by wF LA, or news nation or a credible source of information, it kind of falls into this area of purgatory where we just don't know whether it is true.
We don't know whether it's not true. And, and you'll see over time that we will, the process will unfold where we'll be able to hopefully get more information and tell you whether or not that there's something there something that isn't there. But with those two particular ones. I can I can say that it is it's in that area of purgatory where it's just it is it is unknown. And we have we've had dozens if not hundreds of similar sort of you know, questions come into our newsroom pertaining to a thread of the story. And it's very much we have editorial meetings that w have to lay when we when we go about making this the decisions of what to look into and where to focus our our attention. And I'm part of those conversations and I can just tell you that for those two in particular I know that they are very much in a gray area.
Thank you makes a lot of sense. And
onto you Brooke alright JB
The next question comes from I'm going to try to say this so that it doesn't sound like the word that it could be taken up
for Fox fo x sake
can Cassie Laundrie get in any trouble any legal trouble for talking with the protesters or Good Morning America after being told not to talk by the FBI?
This is one of my favorite questions on first of all good job there is somebody who reads names for a living on stream that was it was very very well done with not saying something that he shouldn't have said I I'm really I'm really really really really glad that we saw this question and and the answer is yes and no. And I'll explain both Okay, so first No, Cassie Laundrie cannot if the FBI tells Cassie don't speak to anybody don't speak the demonstrators don't speak to the media. She didn't that that's just that's just the FBI saying we don't want you to do that. That's not there's no law that says that you can't speak to somebody on the front lawn of your home or you can't speak to Good Morning America. There's no law that says that you're not allowed to do that. But there's a there's a really important thing to remember with this question. Because if Cassie Laundrie speaks to demonstrators speaks to anybody Good Morning America. And is on on a video clip giving out information. And it doesn't add up with what she told the FBI privately. And there is a difference that there's clearly two story Cassie saying one thing to the FBI and Cassie saying something else to the to the public, then you're in trouble. And then all of a sudden, the FBI sees that you weren't truthful or didn't appear to be truthful in your in your you know, in your private interview with federal investigators with federal agents, but you're and then you're saying something right and completely different to to members of the public and then you get another call from the FBI. The FBI says
Cassie Kassie. We'd like to meet with you.
And then they meet and then the FBI will say, Cassie, you said something to the media or in that that viral video clip that is completely contradictory to what you told us a couple of weeks ago when we visited you to get information hear from you pertaining to the disappearance of your of your brother, what Dibs and then then it becomes a problem. Now I know that in Florida, giving false information to a law enforcement officer is a misdemeanor. I don't know what it is for for federal authorities. It's not perjury, you can't perjure yourself in that way because you're not under oath. But it's if Kath Cassie, being the most vocal member of the Laundrie family is is helpful to us because we can actually finally hear somebody talk about this story. But it's also you're you're walking a tightrope, if you're Tassie. Because if you You say something publicly that doesn't add up with what you told the FBI. Well, all of a sudden you're finding yourself in in a in a big pot of hot water. And I'm not saying that that happened let me be very very clear there's no indication that that occurred because we don't know what she told the FBI but she can find herself in in a deal of trouble if if there's a contradictory statement there between what she tells the public and what she tells federal agents.
Thanks, JB. Adam. Go ahead.
Alright. Yeah. Okay, so the next one is going to come from derp derp derpity and the question is another good one. Yeah, you know what? The question is what impact has Gabby made on you and your life outside of the newsroom and also just as a little bonus, I see that river and several others in our chat just would like to know how you like your coffee JB?
Ah, okay, I'll just do the coffee one first. Um, coffee. I like I love Colombian coffee. Colombian is my favorite coffee and I like it I'm one Splenda with whipped cream that that's that's kind of what I what I go for you know, there's that that meme on social media like how dark Do you like your coffee? I'm not a black coffee drinker. But I do I do love a hot cup of coffee in the morning and as far as um, but Adam one more time How was the question? Exactly phrase there the first question of course
yes. So that was what impact has Gabby made on you and your life outside of the newsroom
um
first and foremost I just wish that I had an opportunity to get to know Gabby I mean that's that's you know in in covering the story she comes from such an amazing family and and it would have been It would have been nice to get that I think I can just say I think I think everyone kind of feels the same as that would have been nice to really know Gabby as a as a you know as a human being I grew up on Long Island Adam as we were talking about on the you know in the in the test earlier I grew up on Long Island and there is there I wonder is this there ever been an opera or a moment in the past where I was at a grocery store and she was in the same aisle and I just never knew it
it's um
you know, I wonder these questions sometimes and there's so many oddities with this with this story that I was telling the mods before we actually begin this where you know, I grew up on Island I I live now in Tampa and the Tampa Bay area as part of north of the North replot Florida is part of the Tampa Bay area so it's a coverage you know, it's a story that we are of course super honed in on because it's part of our coverage area. I was telling the mods before and there's other oddities that just are very very bizarre. I My birthday is July 2, it's the day that Gabby and Brian left for their their cross country road trip and and so there's just a few things along the way that have just been very very bizarre things that just happened that are just so weird. I was I haven't told this story I'll share this story here with with everybody that
that I haven't told this to
to anyone other other than my wife, but um,
there was a picture that Nicole
Gabby's mom, Nikki posted to Twitter, and it was a picture of a of the clouds. And if you look closely, the clouds It was a heart. And it was right after she had left the memorial, the memorial that had been there in in in Northport and I think I've never shared this publicly. But that was a picture that was taken in the car with me.
We were
jabby Gabby's family asked me to to be there at the at the memorial that day when they, Joe and Tara, that's Gabby's dad and stepmom, they drove from from bureau beach on the east coast. They drove they made the three hour trip. Nikki flew in from from New York, and they were out for the first time and really only time they were all going to be together at the memorial there in Northport because they wanted to see how large and they wouldn't they know that there was so much love that went into that Memorial. And it was it was very, you know, it was they asked me to be there and they wanted me to be there and, and I was you know, I kind of kind of tried to ask it in the right way. But I said no, you know, why? Why do you want me to be there and they, they just
they wanted me to be there. For
peer support, they they they felt comfortable with me and and that was that was very touching and they just wanted to get to know me. But they invited me to the memorial that day. And then we went out to went out to lunch because they wanted to get to know me better. And, um, and I was very surprised where we were at the memorial and Nicole looked at me goes, Katie, I'll ride with you. And here I am. I'm just, I'm just your you know, friendly. local news reporter you guys I'm not you know, I am not a celebrity. I am not a but here Here I am.
And Gabby Petito's mom just asked if she can ride shotgun with me over to lunch and it was a 30 minute drive over to where we were going for lunch because we wanted to get away from Northport. He didn't want that kind of attention. So we drove 30 minutes away. And I had a really great conversation with Nicole on the road, and she opened up to me on a lot of things that are very, very personal about about Gabby and very, very personal about, about her family and, and, and midway through the drive she she's looking out of the driveway, Volvo. She's looking out of the front of my car. And she says, look, JB Look at that, Trimble, stop mid 70s. JB look, and I said, what, what she goes, do you see that? I said, Oh, my God, is that a? Is that a heart in the in the clouds? And she goes, Yeah, and then she took the phone. And she she kind of leaned forward right on my dash. And she took that picture. And she posted it to Twitter.
And, um,
and there's just been so many weird things that have happened with this with this story that just is one of dozens of little things, moments in time that have happened that I said on stream a few weeks ago that I feel like I'm living in a simulation. Well, I do I do. There are times where I wake up. And I feel like I am living in a simulation with the story because there are so many bizarre, strange occurrences that that just I feel like somebody is pulling the puppet strings. But, um, His story is, is has impacted me in my personal life.
And that I just, I can't believe some of the things that have happened. Some of the oddities and some of the some of the connections that I have to this story that are that are unlike any other news story that I have covered. And with that, I'll just say to that I have people have asked me this on Twitter, people have asked me this on other social media platforms, I am still the same objective. Even though I have gotten to know this family, I am still the same objective news reporter I'm still I'm not somebody who's going to change the way that I delivered the news because I got to know this family that it's not it's not my mo anybody who's watched me over the course of my of my news career will be able to tell you that that's not how I operate. That's not even really within how I my mind brain as far as how I do my job. But I think that that was one of the reasons why the family wants to meet with me is because they know that I'm not going to stray from being who I am.
Um, I learned early on in my news career that you just have to always be who you are. I there are people I'm not going to mention names that there but there are people in the news industry that just tried to have this persona on air like it's this, you know, the the stereotypical news man or news woman and they go on the air, and they speak like this, and they deliver the news. And that's just not who I am. I think I think I can I can confidently tell everybody here on this on this forum that the person that you see delivering the news on the on the air is the same person that you would run into at your local grocery store, just hanging out or walking around the neighborhood, I'm not really all that different on air as I am in real life.
And so that's why that's why I found it hilarious when I joined this chord here and I saw that there were the emojis with my face on it, because I do make those facial expressions in real life. I'm very expressive. And so when people people have screenshotted moments where there's been like a new wrinkle of information, I make like a funny what appears to be a funny face. That's exactly how I am in real life. How I am on stream is very much I am in real life. And so this this, this story has impacted me in my personal life. But at the same time, I just want to make it very clear that that I'm that I'm very much who I am in my personal life. Very, very, very consistent with who I am.
professionally.
Yeah, awesome. Oh, thank you so much for that. I know that everyone in the chat is thrilled to know about your coffee habits. So thank you so much for that. Yeah, that's, that's awesome. I think you really touched on some great points without the just the feeling of connection that you have and just how you know, the way you see things and how it's all connected. So thank you for that. Me Europe.
I just want to give a couple of really quick follow up questions before a real question. Several people asked about your quote unquote news anchor voice so does that mean that you don't use a news anchor voice?
I that's a good question i think that
i don't i don't
ever like turn that switch on and think like alright I have to you know be the news anchor now that's just not how I that's not how my brain works but I think that when you're on air it's kind of subconscious where you take on a bit of a different demeanor slightly I I very much work to not do that. I tried to always be myself I'm on air and I think that there are moments where I get a little too news man Boise Ron Burgundy like it's dry as far as delivering the news but it there I will I'll be honest there are some people in the news industry that have this this voice that they turn on just for the cameras and I always laugh because it's well why would you do that I don't understand why you would speak differently on air than you would in real life or you're just trying to be something that you know you're trying to sound super official and that that's just not I mean, I get it that's what happens is as far as the news industry it's been that way for decades and decades and decades going back to the to the infancy of television journalism, but that's just not who I am. I do get a little news voice see here and there self admittedly, but I try not to
I appreciate that. My second quick follow up question is how do you feel about our emojis Have you
I thought it was I didn't know that was weird. I didn't I i've never ever been on discord before yesterday. So I make the or I made the account and then I made the account about a week ago I think and then I actually logged in and was was part of the I joined the the server here yesterday for the first time and then I saw like these emojis I said, Wait a minute that that's me. I was just kind of it was kind of hilarious. I I did It's weird. It's weird because I just never ever thought that I'd be an emoji that was never something that was on my my checklist as far as things that I wanted to have accomplished the my news career but I I sincerely appreciate I don't know who did the Photoshop work to cut my face out and transform it into emoji. But a heartfelt thanks. I think. I my wife laughed. I like said I took my phone and we were sitting together I said, babe, like, like, look at this. Like, I have multiple emojis here for different faces that I made. And we were just they were just hysterical laughing I that was that was kind of a surprise to say the least.
That's great. I will move it to Brooke so that I don't take too
long. No problem.
Um, and I just want to throw out there JP that I hope you you understood the sentiment behind the the emoji that says that they're there just for fun. And we usually use them to respond to people, you know, if someone posts something that you said, it's normal to respond with us, but the jaypee emoji, so it's
sure and I know that one of them was the day that Steven bertolino released a comment and I was just I forget exactly which statement that it was and I just had this kind of this look of dumbfounded Miss on my face. And I know that one of them's I get the gist behind that one particular about you, which is hilarious.
All right, well, I'm going to start with a quick follow up from user beaven. just asked and I think this comes from the whole server too, especially myself. Can you tell JB to let Paul know we love him too. We always
hold views from the sky.
I will I will tell you that Paul is as authentic of a human being. And as talented as a human being. I think I am president of the polymyxin fan club. He is somebody who has put so much hard work into his craft and he has a very, I think that he and I have a really strong bond because we're both kind of the we're both oddities in our industry. He is a chief photographer who also is is the voice of a helicopter. I mean, and I am a and there's not many interactive news streamers in my industry, there's you could probably can't count them on two hands. So we're both very, we're both We both are rare breeds in that way. And that's he and I are our Very good friends and I will pass that along to Paul because that will mean a lot to him I give him a give him a follow on if he puts so much work into his Instagram give him a follow I think it's Eagle it's a Paul lamps are evil HD Paul Emerson I forget what it is on Instagram but he's a great follow up because he's always posting great pictures of the beautiful area that we live in. I'll pass it along.
Awesome. Love that if you are president of the of his fan club. I think you've got a lot of members here. Club. So for it for the question. This one comes from booth when we're with got a lot of W's in there. Hey JB, thanks for your steadfast reporting and advocacy, it seems very possible that Brian Laundrie may have escaped or traveled the coast by boat or yacht, especially in considering some of the connections between the laundries and the regional yachting industry near Fort DeSoto. To your knowledge, has there been any Invictus investigation into these connections? Or the possibility that Brian Laundrie might be on a yacht or traveling the
seas on a yacht?
I'm really angry. I'll just say that. I've never been on a yacht. So if Brian Laundrie is on a yacht, I take personal offense to how a wanted person is is on a yacht right now living the good life. Um, I cannot speak I can't say I don't know of any investigation specifically into those connections, not to say that they aren't happening. our newsroom is so large and multifaceted that there are likely things that have been, you know, looked into that I'm I'm unaware of because I can't as much as I am a part of the news team. And as much as I'm part of these conversations, there are things that get explored all the time, especially with a story of this magnitude that get explored all the time. And I'm not privy to all of those individual inquiries as to whether or not something is factual or non factual.
The it? here's, here's what I'll say about that. Brian, but there is absolutely zero chance in my mind that this is just me, this is just my opinion, zero chance that Brian Laundrie , vanished and left without without aid. without help. I think that Chris and Roberta saying that he would just like one day, picked up his stuff and left and vanished into the woods, I just, I don't think that there's any way that it was just him going solo off on this hiking trip and didn't want to tell anybody, no one is capable of going in my opinion. Again, this is my opinion, no one is capable of vanishing off the grid with all the technology that we have at our disposal in 2021. No one is capable of just pulling off the disappearing act without having help. Just like a magician on stage. A magician always has a helping hand to pull off a magic trick. And I just think that that Brian Laundrie had to have had and the experts have said this too. We've had analysts and experts. They've said this as well, that it's highly, highly unlikely that he just vanished without being helped by somebody who helped. Was it a friend? Was it his parents? Was it his attorney? Was it a multitude of certain people? We just don't know. But I think it's pretty safe to say that as far as him going off grid.
There was some help that he received to make this to elude the Federal Bureau of Investigations that that is that is an enormous thing to do. And for him to just disappear like that. I mean, is he on a yacht? Again? I would be personally insulted if he was on a yacht. I think everybody in this here on discord would be very upset if he was um, you know, sipping on a pina colada with his feet kicked up on a yacht and watching maybe he's in the chat right now, for all we know. But I couldn't be connected to that fort DeSoto. I think that's why Dog the Bounty Hunter has put so much attention into fort DeSoto into southern Pinellas County is to, you know, whether or not that was the point where he did in fact go missing, or that was used as a vessel of some kind to, to go off grid. But we really just we just don't know. But I think that he had to have received some help of some kind to vanish in the in the manner
that he did. Awesome. Thank
you, JB. And Chris, one more quick thing. We've been going for almost an hour. Now I want to be respectful of your time. Of course, do you have a time constraint you'd like to stop in a certain amount of minutes or a certain amount of questions you like to finish up with anything like that?
Well, I'll say
this, I don't know how many more opportunities that we'll have to do this here with you guys are on Discord. So this might be one of the only if not the only time that I'll be able to, to participate in something like this. So I have no problem giving you guys another hour, hour and a half even if you guys we can go till either one or 130. And if you guys would like also to I would love some feedback from some folks here in the chat. If you would like me to speed up responses here, I can go a little bit fast and get through some more of the questions. I know that there are dozens and dozens and dozens of them if not more than that. So I'll go as quickly as you'd like as far as combing through some of these questions.
I'm looking at the responses right now as they come in. Everyone's saying you're doing great, your tempo is perfect. I like the pace. It's perfect. They're loving your your responses so far. So there's your feedback on that everyone's loving it.
Thank you everybody. I appreciate it. It's my first time on Discord. So thanks for the love. I appreciate it. I have a I will post a picture I did I was talking about how awesome it is. You guys have a pet pictures section of the server I will try to share I'm actually sitting here with I have two cats mom and Ziggy and Mama is over here hanging out with me. And she she just i think that i think that she just likes the sound of my voice. So she'll just kind of sit with me here. And she's kind of right here by my side. So I'll try to I'll try to post a picture there as well when we're when we're done here with the with the AMA.
Awesome. Please give her some pets from all of us. Yeah,
well. All right, Adam. Next month.
Yeah. All right. Well, thank you again, so much shady. And like Rob said, everyone in chat is just absolutely loving this. Absolutely. Um, yeah, we love to hear that you love our pet pics. It's one of our favorite parts of the server. So yeah, thanks so much. Um, already then. So this next question is going to come from me, Lisa. See, um, in your opinion, how long do you think it will be until Brian Laundrie is found? And will you keep covering the case for that whole duration. And they just like to share that they have experienced an abusive relationship. And they want to thank you and your whole team for your respectful and sensitive manner that you've shown and you've shown what true journalism should be.
Well, thank you that
that means a lot to me. And I will I will share that when I was at lunch with Gabby's family that that was one of
the
that was one that came up it we as far as just the amount of people that have reached out not just to me but to to Gabby's family people that have said that they are that they have been in abusive relationships and that they when they saw the the Moab video when they saw the body camera video that that it was a wake up call for them, and seeing the amount of exposure that the stories received and of course the what just terrible tragedy befell Gabby Petito that people who have used that as the necessary push that they needed to get out of abusive relationships, that this is something that means so much to Gabby's family. And if I can just share free for free personally that I've had people reach out to me on my various social media platforms with similar stories that said JB for from you know, it's been really overwhelming for me, you guys have no idea but people who have said JB from walking your coverage and I have I have now exited an abusive relationship that is, you guys will never know what that
what that means and how
you would never think that just like just being a you know, being a newscaster, you would never think that you would inspire change like that, and I never ever sought out to do it. But when I hear stories like that, that's unbelievably overwhelming. And, and it really means a lot to me and I I hope that others who were in abusive relationships, and others who are in abusive relationships, all that I'll say is I just think that they that there's nothing wrong with seeking help and looking to others and, and being open and honest and trying to do everything that you can to, to get out of a terrible situation. And so it means lots of the family needs lots of nice, so thank you as far as far as the questions there. I don't I have no idea when Brian Laundrie is going to be settled. I have no idea. I'm Brian entiende did the news nation interview with Josh Taylor. And they pegged it at about a 5050. And I think that was more than a week ago now.
And
I don't know if it's 5050 I don't I I am I am trying to stay optimistic that he is going to be found. And I am I'm pretty certain he is. I just I have no idea for the timetable. People and in my line of work, we know that cases can go cold. And we don't want this case to go cold.
We want results. But
I would be lying to you if I said that I was confident that he was going to be found in the next several days, I'd be lying if I said I was confident that he's going to be found in the next week. We just as this now goes beyond the you know, the well beyond the 30 day mark here. We're getting into now,
some
we're getting into a very interesting chapter of this story where if things don't materialize soon, then we're talking about things really going into, into irrelevance certainty, where we just have will have no idea when Brian is going to be found. As far as the question on on will we stay on the story, of course, we're going to stay on the story, you by now you guys have probably seen we're not doing daily streams anymore. And the reason of course being is that it's not Gabby Petito. Now it's not Brian Laundrie now it's wF lay down, we've had other stories to cover. And we have to of course, we can't ignore other stories just because there's a massive audience for this one. There are other stories that deserve our attention and deserve the the same platform that Gabby and Brian have had received here as far as that story and following up on that story. But anytime, I can assure you anytime that there's a development in the story, we're live, it's just, it's just it all depends on how those developments occur, and how frequently we received them. All right,
thank you so much, JB and um, there are a few people in the number of people in the chat who really just want you to know something, they are saying that they have experience with domestic violence as well. And they really just want you to know how much they appreciate the respectful and supportive way that you have been covering this and just how you've been with this whole thing. That's a really special thing. And yeah,
yeah, and I'll just kind of chime in here for a second I on domestic violence and domestic abuse, I just, I try finding somebody who hasn't been touched by it in some way, whether it's been you directly or whether it's a parent or a step parent, or whether it's a cousin or a friend of yours, I think that we have all in this country in some way, shape or form had a connection to domestic violence and domestic abuse. And I think that that's a conversation that has gone ignored for too long for far too long. And I appreciate all the people that are that are that are chiming in here in the comments section. And I look forward, we're not at that stage yet where we can have had the Convert, I mean, we're gonna have those conversations at some point. And I look forward to being part of those conversations because I think that it's a it's a conversation that has been on the back burner
for for far too long.
Yeah, absolutely. And that's likely one of the reasons why this case I think, has touched so many people and had such a worldwide impact is because so many of us can see parts of ourselves in some aspect of it. So again, it's just everyone wants you to know how much you are appreciated for being so great about that and so supportive to everyone it goes such a long way. jp, thank you. Alright, me.
Just want a second on that. Definitely. It's very appreciated. I have two questions. The first one is just a quick follow up kind of changing lanes a little bit is Ziggy's name related to David Bowie was asked by several
people.
So lewdly my, my wife and I are enormous, enormous. David Bowie fan especially her she's she's a diehard Bowie fan and and when Ziggy was born, so mama is the of course the mother and she gave birth to a litter of kittens and Ziggy was the runt of the bunch. And we gave out we were in Alabama at the time we were living in Alabama we gave out all the all the kittens away that was a form that was a fun chapter. And when we gave away we couldn't part with Ziggy we just couldn't because she had this this mark this this what it looks looks like almost a lightning bolt that kind of goes across her face. And it and Devin, my wife said right a way that's that looks exactly like David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust. And it was just immediate. We We We knew that that was that was Biggie and Ziggy wasn't going anywhere. She was gonna stay with us. She is a scaredy cat. She is terrified of anything that isn't Devin awry if anybody, even if the mailman comes up and delivers mail, she will scatter into a corner and hide she has no reason to be scared of anything. But she is just the truest definition of a scaredy cat. But yes, it is from David
Bowie. That's awesome.
Thank you so much for answering that one. And my actual question comes from the follow up questions but I have seen multiple variations of this question asked through like various ways does w FMLA and or like do news reporters get certain information and or more information than the public that they are then asked to withhold by like law enforcement or the FBI
etc. I don't think that we're ever asked
to withhold information. We're not asked to not report something. It's just we'll receive information that we can't report and there's there's various reasons for that. You know, for for example, um, you'll you will, there are so many times where a were reporter will go on the record, and then off the record with conversations. And and it's really important to always have a concrete understanding as to what is something that is on the record versus off. It's something that you're taught, and you have to, of course, go by you find yourself in a very precarious situation, if you find yourself reporting information that is off the record, or something that was told, that wasn't intended to be released.
And so, and a lot of times, too, it's not even information that is like, I'm not talking about, like a piece of bombshell information, something that would drastically change everything that we know about this story or any story. But it's just something that, that that you you can't report for a variety of different reasons, because it's not verifiable. Or it's not something that you can confirm at the time. Or maybe you do get information that is that you hear whispers or something and you look into it. And of course, you've got that in from we were talking about betting earlier, you bet that information. Of course, I have heard things of course, I've seen things and of course we we pursue the appropriate avenues to confirm that information if we can and then report that information if we can. But, yeah, absolutely. There's information that we received, that it's not But see, the thing is, it's that will, I've received countless pieces of information that, that I can't I cannot say whether or not it's true. And because there's sometimes there's going to be pieces of information that are impossible to verify, or, or virtually impossible to verify.
So I always, I always I am, I'm one of those reporters who I will be extremely by the book. And there are times where I get brought into other conversations in the newsroom. And somebody will say, you know, JT, well, you know, I got this, you know, take a look at this. Take a look at that. And we'll have a conversation I'll do the same thing with with some of my reporters in the newsroom, too. I can't even begin to tell you how many times masa and I particularly will have conversations about information that we can report versus information that we're still working to verify those are conversations that always occur in our newsroom. And it's it's just an extremely regular part of what we do. It's almost as as common as briefing for us as far as getting information, receive that information whether or not we can report that information.
And then if we can we of course, you know, we talk about it with the with the managers on hand, and then we go with that information. So but yes, there's a lot of things that I have, that I have learned and heard that, that I that I would never share, because I just I can't for one of many or several different reasons. And those reasons can can vary quite a bit. But um, that's that's just kind of part of the industry that that we're in is that we have to be. We have to be gatekeepers of information when it comes to and I don't mean that as far as being secretive, or not sharing those things with you. But because there have been reporters who have had their careers end prematurely and because they shared something that they weren't supposed to because maybe it was completely and totally false, and maybe it was completely totally a fabrication. So there's a process and we stick to that process. Very much wF LA, I know that Brian Ensign, very much six step process and news nation and our other colleagues, it's very much the
core of what they do. Thank you.
That makes a lot of sense. And I'm gonna pass it to
you, JP, I've got a question for you that I think might be a little bit harder to answer. And I know it was probably hard for this person to ask this question, because I know this is something none of us want to happen. But this question comes from psycho goblet. And they asked, How long will the Wi Fi keep reporting on this? I'm afraid the case is going
to go cold. We're never going to stop. We don't
if there's developments we never stop. This isn't a story that we were ever going to you know, they ignore it's never a story that we're going to not pursue. It's always going to be something that is that is part of
our you know, part
of of our conversations it but here's the thing, you guys, I mean, so we have reporters that pursue new leads. And I know from being in those conversations in our newsroom that right now we are still pursuing this story and pursuing new leads. So there's there's really two types of new story right? It's something that wF really pursues and then and then and then we go live with that information. And we confirm that when we go live with that information, or it's information that wF la receives, and whether it's an it's a statement, or it's a press conference, or it's a piece of document documentation, something that we're receiving, then we go with it, I can I can say that right now, we are still actively with the former, we are still actively pursuing leads on this case, it's still very much part of our daily conversations or editorial meetings. those meetings where we talk about how to attack the news of the day and our team is still very committed to it. I cannot say how long it's going to be a continual regular part of those editorial meetings. It's only natural for for a story to to eventually not produce enough updates or developments to where things go stagnant. And we've had many news stories that will go stagnant over months or over years.
I can speak for right now it's very much a regular part of our conversation but here's the thing what I meant earlier was if there's any developments in the case we're on it right away it's we are we are hyperactive on anything that occurs as far as developments the case but as far as actively pursuing new leads new information that is still very much the fabric of of our of our routine meetings at wF la right now. And I can't speak to you know, it's more of a news management decision as far as when we kind of take our foot off the gas pedal so to speak. It's only natural, though it's only natural for us to over time. If the case doesn't continuously prove or provide developments. It's only natural for it to it doesn't fade out of existence, but it definitely it definitely isn't something that is actively pursued by our by our new staff as much as it was and say September. So it will, it will that they're there. That that is that is inevitable. But it's not something that is happening at this particular time. We are still pursuing that this story with with with considerable resources.
Gotcha. Thank you. I think that makes sense. And I think that's a relief for probably all of us to hear that wF Li is thinking this one through, you know,
and let me let me want to add one thing, Brooke there too, as well. It's very much to what Okay, so why Why? Because it's part of our coverage area, right? There are hundreds of local news stations across the country that aren't even talking about this in their morning meeting. So that's not part of their coverage. It's part of our coverage area, something that is very much at the core of what we're doing right now. But like you know, other places in the country, you know, even let's say Miami, you know, Miami isn't necessarily going to be as deeply invested in this as the Tampa Bay area. So television, I'll just give a quick explainer on how this works.
There's about 200 plus television markets across the country. And they are rated by size right? New York is number one, Los Angeles is number two, Chicago is number three. Tampa I think right now is number 13. The Tampa Bay area, Miami is a different market and the television map the map of the country is broken into television markets and we are in the Tampa Bay market. And this is still a story that of course our w f la viewers here in the Tampa Bay area are still completely in like focused in on and honed in on. So we'll of course it's still very much a routine part of our our editorial meetings. But in a place, let's say Jacksonville, Florida, which is not sure which market number that is, but it's not really as much of a routine and regular part of the conversation there. It's a big part of of, of our conversations right now here in Tampa Bay, specifically,
product. Thank you for that explanation. That makes a lot of sense.
Okay, Adam, personally, all right. Thank you so much again, JV. Um, okay, so ferry fly is asking, I'm curious, what does your streaming setup look like?
Ah,
that's, that's a good it's a very good question. And I can't share too much on that, because it's been very flattering to see that now what has happened in in this this evening goes be before the, the Gabby Petito story. There are
organizations
and news stations and news entities that our that are trying to duplicate what we are doing what we do is very, very unique. I think I think that it's pretty fair to say with everybody here listening that, that not many local television stations are doing interactive streaming like this. And this is something that I've been doing now for a few for a couple years. And
and so it's been very flattering to see that now that there are some other stations and other companies that are saying, hey, look at these, you know, look at how many views wF LA is getting from doing interactive streaming, we need to be doing this, how are they doing it. And I'll just be very honest with everybody here. You know, I'll talk a little bit about what the streaming setup looks like. But this is a this is a conversation that goes back to about three years ago. And I was routinely blown away by what people were accomplishing on Twitch, which was was very much at the formative formulated sort of conception of Wi Fi now, in that it blew my mind that 14 year olds in their mom's basement were pulling off these, these streams and many of them of course, for video gaming for playing games like Call of Duty or League of Legends or or fortnight and doing it with these advanced animations and doing it with these advanced graphics and interactivity.
And somebody could donate to a twitch streamer and have their name scroll on screen and interact with with the with the streamer in real time. And the thing that blew my mind was that they were doing it all by themselves, how somebody how a gamer could be playing a video game have an Xbox or Playstation controller in their hand. And also while focusing on playing that game, interacting with an active chat and an active audience all at once and be doing it for 10s of 1000s of people that was mind blowing to me. I'm a big geek, I'm a huge nerd. And I remember thinking to myself, why aren't we in this space? Why? Why is the news industry not doing this? Why are we taking this and, and trying to make our own version of this and interact with our audience in real time. I was and still to this day, I'm routinely blown away by what Twitch streamers are capable of all by themselves. A
nd I said men, you know the news industry and pulling off a news broadcast. It's usually it depends on the size and the scope and the size of the market. But it can vary from anywhere from 3456 people to like a dozen people What I mean is okay, you have maybe two anchors, you have a meteorologists, you have your sports guy, you have camera operators, you have a director, you have an audio person, you have a graphics person, and it takes about no any network news, it's larger, it's probably 20 to 30 people but it takes a certain amount of people to to pull off a news broadcast, I went into my boss's office, and I said hey, I want to just throw a radical idea your way.
What if What if one person could do all of that? What if one person could manage being the face of a broadcast, hitting all the buttons, managing graphics, managing transitions, if a if a twitch streamer can do it and like do it at the age of 14 and pull off these advanced graphics and animations and and talk with their audience while playing video games? Why can't we do that? While doing a news broadcast? Why can't we present news to people and talk to them? At the same time? Why can't we be interactive like they are on Twitch So I had a I had a I had a boss at the time, who was a an enormous believer in the work that I was doing his name is Ryan and Ryan looked at me and said, Jamie, what do you need to make it happen? And those were like, those are the magic words in any industry.
But what do you need to make it happen? I said, Okay, can we start with this list of equipment, and let's just try it. Let's try. And the infancy of Wi Fi now is really terrible. I had audio and video sync issues, and the equipment is terrible lighting is terrible. Audio is terrible. It's all there. There's some early streams of Wi Fi now that are humiliating, because what it looks like now is completely way more polished than it was, you know, three years ago, but I can say that as far as what the streaming setup looks like, I was a big Star Wars fan growing up, and I always had this I had a man crush of course, who didn't have a man crush on Han Solo, being at the seat of the Millennium Falcon, and and hitting buttons and being surrounded by gizmos and gadgets.
I just I love that about bots. And I said man, it would be really cool one day, if I had a job where I was just surrounded by different buttons the joke in my newsroom is I love pressing buttons. So I'm surrounded by buttons like almost like a cockpit for a for a jet and I have a ton of buttons around me ton of touchscreens and I use a lot of the same equipment that the Twitch streamers use because they have really paved the way for interactive streaming and they are very much I've had conversations with a lot of Twitch streamers and talk to them about about how they do what they do because they are very much inspiring for me for how one person can do oh so much and And let's not forget that they are doing it for an extended period of time here are some Twitch streamers that will be live for like 10 hours straight with with only breaks for bathrooms and for like that for a bathroom break so that's that's kind of a little bit of an insight into the streaming setup that I have and and I built it over time and it's very much very much a part of my day to day routine you know activities work my job I we're always getting into new technology and try on different gizmos and gadgets and different pieces of hardware different pieces of software to and and that's I think that we're paving the way for for more news stations and more news organizations across the country to to do interactive news streaming, but I have to be very very careful even here on discord because I know this is being recorded. I can't give out the tricks of the trade because there have been a lot of us organizations that have tried to duplicate what we've been
doing.
Absolutely. I hate to cut it off. But Tom, we'd like to take a five minute break. Okay.
I know that music I've heard it once or twice
I've requested a little short intermission
So sure,
yeah, okay, so we'll come back at it's 12 1239 Eastern Why don't we will come back if it's okay, but you guys went 1245 and we'll go to 130
sounds great.
That sounds awesome. All right. Perfect. All right, you guys we'll be back at five awesome thank you so much, JV Thank you.
everyone in the audience go use the bathroom go get a drink of water go grab a snack, stretch your legs whatever you need to do
back in about five minutes.
So you can use this time if you'd like to think of any more follow up questions to throw in the chat. That'd be great. And yeah, keeping awesome guys.
I think JD is still a little ambience.
Me I
see we have some requests to bring back the music are we able to do that vibe and
I have speakers on sorry. So just want to add from the comments that are coming in from chat, they are recording this. It will be transcribed later. It'll probably take us some time to get it transcribed, but we will transcribe it.
Yeah, so and just because people are probably wondering, do you have an idea of like when the recording might be available
after this? I'm not sure
that would be a question for a couple of people who are actually doing the recordings and along upload. Gotcha. What was that question again? The question was, when do you expect the recordings will be available? or How long do you think it will take for the recordings to be available after the stream happens
between Hang on one second and I don't know what satisfies I'm doing my just have her do it. If she doesn't decide to do it, probably within an hour, hopefully. Okay. Stop it,
I want to just I want to make sure it has, like subtitles on it for people who are hard of hearing. So I want to make sure it's, you know, available properly. Awesome. We appreciate a call
you and sass both and everyone who's on the back end of things, we appreciate you so much.
First, Nick says that she'll add subtitles and an image to hers and it'll be available in a couple hours after the event. It's over also. So there should be a couple of versions out there soon.
I would like to thank
everyone for making this possible, like, just because we reached out for contact, it's not because of us that JB is here. He's here because of all of you, like, the massive amount of users that are interested in hearing from him, not just because of me, or because of a few mods, no.
Absolutely, I stack a Mac completely. It because of all of you and the amazing community that we have here that this is even possible. So you all honestly, you should be proud of yourselves. And you have yourself to thank for this too.
And let me let me just kind of hop in guys for a second and just say, I'll just I'll just say I have never had such a warm welcome to any platform or any community ever. It's the only place where I joined a community. And people were trending in almost immediately saying, Let's not tag or message him too much, because we don't want to blow up his phone like that is so it's overwhelmingly considerate. So it just speaks to just how how warm this community is, it's, um, I am used to so in my, with what I do, I'm used to having, I have a very thick skin, because I have to endure it. Listen, there's tons of comments out there that are extraordinarily negative as far as you know how I go about my business. And I get that that's just that's that comes with the territory of being, you know, a digital anchor on the news, but I just I would never received such a, such a warm and inclusive and, and special welcome as I have received here. And that was one of the reasons why I was really, I and one of the reasons why we're going to you know, to be doing this for really two and a half hours is because I just I wanted to just say thank you to everybody for for an overwhelmingly warm welcome. Thank you
so much for saying that. I know that a lot of users have questioned like, how does JB feel about the discord? Having joined it? Actually, here's one of the questions. What were your first impressions of the community? And if you've spent time reading around, do you have any words of advice for us going forward? on continuing to discuss this case as well as others?
with just me, I'm sorry, what was that? I that question came from White Widow. White Widow. Okay, I you know, so I haven't I look
forward to reading more here in this community. I kind of I think I just got very surface level with some of the channels here and reading some of the comments, it's refreshing to see a place. That is that is very respectful. As far as the back and forth communication here. The internet is filled with some really mean nasty people, to say the least, I covered the election. Last year, there was a there was a time where I was going live each and every day, talking about Trump and talking about Biden. And when I tell you that the that it was just extraordinarily nasty, some of the things that would be said not just to me, but from person to person. It was it was just so toxic, and it and it really it makes going home that day and about what the work that you do makes you just go like man, are you really doing the right thing as far as going live and talking about something that is so divisive and so polarizing.
And I tried to stay true to the mission statement that, that I'm very much a newscaster who tries to have a conversation with the audience and try to understand where people are coming from and try to understand different viewpoints and why people disagree on the things that they do disagree on. I would My only advice. And I don't think it's necessarily advice. It's really for this Discord server. I just think that it's advice in general, it's just always be time. And try to always be understanding. Someone might not agree with what you have to say. And you might not agree with what they say. But try to put yourself in that person's shoes and try to understand where they might be coming from. And I think it will, it will, we'll just a little bit at a time we'll all be able to come to a to to understand that.
That we come from different backgrounds, we come from different, you know upbringings, we come from sometimes different countries. And we all have a right to our own opinion. But always just try to be respectful that just because somebody doesn't agree with you doesn't mean that they don't deserve your respect. And I think that if you everybody kind of keeps that in mind. The Internet will just be a better place for for all of us. And I don't I mean it when I say that I think that that sort of mini lecture Is is best served for some other platforms. I won't mention names. But I think that this Discord server based on what I've seen very surface level, you know, from what I've seen over the last 24 hours, I think that you guys are
doing right.
That's really nice to hear. Thank you so much for answering my question. And I will pass it to
Brooke.
Sorry, JP, this question comes from Wally Whoo. But I've seen it a couple other times. So shout out to the other people who have asked similar question. Do you feel that the way that dog and Lissa find and air out information is potentially harmful to the case? Or do you think that his work has been useful to the case, since he is handing evidence over to law enforcement? Are there any major cases that maybe you know of her that you worked on? Were private investigations have led law enforcement to the suspect?
I will, I'm going to take the glass half full approach on this, I would like to think that that Dog the Bounty Hunter, and any other private investigators that are on this case, are trying to do so respectfully and with with of course, the understanding that that they are part of something much larger, that it's not about them, it's not about dog, the bounty hunter or any private investigator that is trying to listen and then there are going to be people out there those those are rewarded amounts that have been put out there. those are those are attractive to people who have the the necessary skills to, to track down other human beings.
And there are people in this world who are very good at tracking down the whereabouts of others I've had conversations with with several of them that that had done this for a living in the past. And I would like to think and I'm going to try to take a glass half full approach on this that the dog a bounty hunter is, is going about it hopefully the right way and doing it and not not releasing any information that would be compromising an ongoing federal investigation. And would I you know, as far as the information that they're putting out there, I don't I don't really know if there's anything that's been put out there that the FBI didn't know, weeks ago. I think the FBI is is weeks ahead of dog and and his team. But I don't necessarily know if there's anything that that he has put out there that would be compromising to their efforts as far as tracking down Brian Laundrie.
I'm trying to take a an optimistic viewpoint on that. Is there the chance that, that that's something that's been put out there that has really pissed off the FBI? I would imagine, I would imagine that, that that's certainly possible. And has this happened with other stories that I'd covered in the past, not at this magnitude, not at this level. But I covered news stories in Alabama, where bounty hunters were on the case. And the difference is, is that they don't have a reality television show to worry about. They're just trying to collect, you know, collect the information to collect the whereabouts of a person necessary to to see, you know, to support themselves and support in and collect the paycheck. But um, I I'm just hopeful that the Dog the Bounty Hunter and his team have been doing this with the understanding that they're part of something much larger.
Gotcha. Thank you so much, Adam. Yeah,
again, thank you so much, JB really appreciate it. Okay, so this one's gonna come from Cassie. And the question is, hey, JP, all right. Well, I know I'm probably not the same one but you never know. I thought of that. Well, the question is, hey JB, how are you and your wife doing through all of this especially they mentioned after the loss of your uncle and just life in general and they say your dedication is greatly appreciated.
Thank you
to to Cassie for for asking about that. My wife and I are are doing doing okay. You know, it's um, it's it's certainly been a lot of long hours. It's certainly been, you know, working weekends has been has been challenging. You know, what's interesting is that we, you know, my new station streaming efforts go beyond Wi Fi. Now, usually, this is the month where we're tracking hurricanes. And it's we've been very, very fortunate over the last six weeks that we haven't had, what we had last year with the record breaking hurricane season. So we're, I'm used to this being a busy month. I'm used to this being a time where where I'm not Tell them as much. But this is this has gone well beyond hurricane status at this point, in my opinion because a hurricane, a hurricane, you can follow it on a map, it comes it hits a particular area.
And there's a relative timeframe that you know that you're dealing with, you know, the impact of the hurricane and the aftermath afterwards. Well, this is this is a story that doesn't have an end in sight right now. And that's the most mentally taxing about it is that I, again, a hurricane, you see it coming, we you follow it, you track it scientifically, and then it hits and then you're working your butt off, but there's no there's there's light at the end of the tunnel, and that you know that the coverage is going to conclude there at a particular point in time. With this. I think the most mentally taxing portion of this is, is the fact that we don't we'd have to do with no idea when Brian lines we've got to be found. We don't know if he's ever going to be found. And that part is is difficult. And there was another portion of the of the question there. What was the second part of that question?
Yeah, um, the other part of that was just, well, they did mention that the loss of your uncle, so I think we're all sending you, you know, condolences about about that. We're so sorry for your loss. And, yeah, they're just saying there that they hope you're doing well in life in general and that all your dedication is so greatly appreciated. Yeah.
Thank you for the comments of my uncle. I'll just kind of give everybody the two cents on that he was that was an extremely difficult, difficult time for my family just because and this is number of speaking earlier, I was talking about how there were just some bizarre oddities with this story that that line up with, with things that have gone on in my personal life. My uncle passed away, we believe within within the same week or week to 10 days as Gabby and also passed away under mysterious circumstances and also passed away in a place where it was extremely difficult to get his remains back. In fact, we only got his remains back last week, and again almost within a week to win Gabby's remains are being you know, are being received by by Gabby's family. So my, my uncle to kind of do a quick recap he, he was FDNY, as a firefighter in New York City was at Ground Zero and I love it. He passed away in the Dominican Republic. He would go to the Dominican Republic quite often and one of the reasons that he went to the Dominican Republic was he couldn't be in 911 you couldn't be in New York on 911. It was it was just wait he had he had PTSD and and he and he had shoulder surgery. From you know, many, many years of serving FDNY being a being a firefighter for 27 years.
And it's really it tore us apart because the reason that he flew he was only going this particular trip to the Dominican Republic where he would love to stay he only went there because he was trying to get out of out of New York for 911 and the doctors told him listen, you shouldn't be traveling right now. With the medication that you're on you were at a you're at a higher risk of heart attack and blood clot and you should not be should not be traveling by air right now and he couldn't bear being in New York on 911 so that was extremely difficult for my family because when he got to the Dominican Republic key that was when he when he passed away and I appreciate all the kind comments and this is one of the reasons to why why I've had you know why I've had a bit of a you know, not only am I is Gabby Petito's family you know in on Long Island where I grew up not only is it is it really just a 15 minute drive from where I you know where I went to high school, but at the same time we're both we have both been coping with with loss these last few weeks and so I appreciate all the comments. He was laid to rest on Thursday I was in New York that's why I wasn't on Wi Fi now Wednesday or Thursday and I just a heartfelt thank you to everybody for checking in on that.
Yeah, well thank you so much JP and once again, thank you for for sharing about that with us. And I am seeing a lot in the chat that everyone is just just would like to remind you to please take care of yourself however best you can. And just please make sure I know the hours are long and we all appreciate so much your dedication but however you can take time out for yourself just to rest relax, recharge, please make sure you're doing that for you because we care that you stay happy and healthy as much as possible. So thank you, of course me.
Yeah, absolutely. So sorry for your loss to be pulling up
another question. multiple people have asked
What the first question you would be? Or we would ask if you had the opportunity if Brian Laundrie was found?
What happened? Well,
I mean, well, if he wasn't, if I could ask Brian a question right now it'd be Where are you? That's first and foremost. But if he was right here in front of me, I would say What happened?
What's the truth? come clean?
Tell us tell us exactly what happened. A lie. Just come clean once and for all. Tell us exactly what happened. And that would be the first thing that I would that I would ask Brian. And, and I, I can only hope that one day he has to face that question at some point, but I don't care if it's from me, I don't care if it's from police. I don't care if it's from dog, the bounty hunter, john Walsh, or the Easter Bunny? I don't I don't care who asks, Who asked that question. I just really want that answer. I think that everybody here joining us here as well also wants that answer as well.
Yeah, very powerful words, what happened? Um, a lot of the users are just replying, like coating that that's gonna stick in their minds, I think for a while. Thank you.
And on to the next question, this question comes from Alex. They asked, Do you feel like after this case, your life will change in some ways, or maybe has already changed. And I think that'd be taken on a personal aspect or even within your career, or you think your career may change based on how large this case you've gotten.
All it personally, I think it's just been it's been, as far as changing my life. I think that just getting to know Gabby's family has been
incredible.
talking to them, and realizing how much we have in common. And just taking off my reporter hat and just talking to them as fellow human beings. I just getting to know them personally, is, has been, has been has been overwhelming for me, just because there's just so much that we do have in common, but again, I remind everybody that doesn't change how I approach this objectively as far as doing my job and, and, but it has just on a personal level, it's been great getting to know them. As far as as far as professionally i'm not i'm not really too concerned about that. I you know, I see, I see that they're, you know, people will comment, JB I really hope that you're on national news someday and I really hope that you're, I see your face on CNN or I see you on msnbc. You're right. And I don't I don't I don't know that is like the farthest thing from my from my mind right now.
And, and also to you know, I think that that's also when people are like, Oh man, I can't wait to see you on network news someday it's like yeah, but I I'm reaching people in Australia and Norway and around the world and I don't I don't need any more exposure. This has been overwhelming enough as an experience as far as the amount of people that have been watching Wi Fi now my my thing is, professionally, I'm just really glad to see interactive streaming and interactive journalism get put at the forefront you too long have comments sections and too long have news viewers gone ignored.
As far as just the the 1000s of comments that will come in, under or under a particular news story. We need this industry, our news industry that that we are we are just way too slow to adapt to the times and to to changing technology and social media. And I'm just really grateful professionally, to have been shining a light on interactive journalism because at the heart of interactive journalism is it's it's caring about you guys it's caring about what you have to say and again back to the very first thing we talked about here in this session is I'm on discord because you guys don't deserve to be ignored these platforms where there's so much goodwill and there's so much collaboration, there shouldn't be this disconnect between newscasters in the journalism profession and all of these these these channels on the internet where people are collaborating and talking about news stories, why can't the news be part of that conversation?
Why can't people such as myself be part of that conversation so I'm here on discord I'm trying to help bridge the gap here I'm trying to help show that interactive journalism goes beyond just you know, somebody being in front of a camera having the light in their face and telling the news we can be part of these conversations to where you know, somebody was like on Reddit was saying hashtag one of us yeah, we you know, I am one of you guys. I am also to just another person who is seeking the truth here on the story. And so I think professionally, the biggest thing for me is just it's been, it's been nice to see that interactive journalism and how reading it To what you guys have to say on social media is getting its moment in the spotlight.
That's wonderful. I love that answer. Thank you so much. I found a question that is very related in my opinion. So I'm just gonna ask this quick follow up question. It comes from Meow, meow 93. They asked JB, how do you balance being a reporter, and wanting to get the story out and all the information, what was also for a while also being respectful to Gabby's family and wanting to give them their space and
privacy. I think they
try to treat my streams as this as if anyone and anyone could be
watching. And
I, one thing that I have really learned about this, and I think that the word you know, I do pay attention to the feedback, I have 1000s of comments on my DMS, from Instagram, Facebook and Twitter that I am trying to catch up on. It's just, it's just been so difficult. But if there's one word that I see that that is that it's just, it's an ever present theme and some of the messages that I received from people, it's the word compassion. And I do try to be a compassionate news reporter, I do try to tell stories with compassion. And and it's been really, it's been really a nice, a nice part of this experience. As far as seeing that so many people appreciate that, and so on, I'm just going to continue to treat this story with compassion. And you know, when evil HDS is flying over the scene of a of a terrible car crash. I'm not just thinking about the facts of of you know, where this is and how this happened. I'm also thinking about who might be watching, because if either HDS over a massive car crash on it, 75 here in Tampa, somebody could be watching at home, and recognize the vehicle and say, Oh, my God, that's my brother's vehicle, or that's my husband's vehicle or my wife's vehicle. And then you have to think about, you'd have to think about them. You can't be that can't be lost on you. Because if somebody is, is seeing that car and seeing it mangled? And can you just imagine what that is like for them learning that information and learning that on the news. So I try to go about the stories that I do with with compassion, and I try to keep that always ever present in my mind as far as the stories that I cover.
I think that combination of professionalism and compassion is really what makes you stand out and what makes a lot of us here. Love you and your
coverage. Okay. Thank you.
Sorry for taking a bit of a long time there.
No, please don't be sorry. It's actually perfect, because my next one was going to be Meow, meow, his question that you just asked. So that was a great catch broke. That was awesome, super important question. So next up, um, I would just like to do this follow up question from SK. Who was asking, do you think mainstream media has undermined the power of social media such as Reddit and discord? Regarding this case? They mentioned how most of us here are young people after all, and they're also asking what do you think about forum sites like Reddit or communities like in discord, and just how they have impacted the case? Yeah,
I think those those questions are intertwined.
Mainstream Media I
know that's, that's a difficult one, because I'm not part of it. I don't consider myself part of it. There is mainstream media and I have never worked for network news. I've never worked for a large news organization. I know from you know, colleagues and friends as far as how those conversations go and and how they attack you know, doing what they do and how they attack but let's not all listen, let's always keep in mind here that that when it when it comes to mainstream media, okay. And when it comes to just media in general, let's just let's just drop mainstream here just for a second. It's it's, everything is for profit. And, and it's, it's always it's always, the idea is, of course, just like any industry, the idea is that they're going to make decisions based on what is going to be most profitable for them. And you can't slam a news industry for trying to think of things from a way that it's going to be profitable, because that's just the way that our society is built that that's just that's capitalism. And there had been Of course, there are nonprofit journalism, you know, and nonprofit news organizations and they deserve a tremendous amount of money. But I think that of course, yes. When it comes to media organizations, yes, the decisions are their editorial decisions aren't necessarily always made with with money, you know, at the center of the conversation, but news organizations to do what they can to, of course, they are for profit. And so you we can't ignore that element of the conversation. And as, as far as far as,
as far as
you know, how social media factors in again, that that is what I'm trying to change. It's a very lonely battle, let me tell you, it's an extremely lonely battle, when it comes to trying to get the news industry to pay more attention to social media, they shouldn't be looking at a post and looking at analytics and saying, oh, my goodness, this is a this is a story that has generated X amount of views or X amount of why are we reading more into what you guys have to say? And so I think just speak to I think to speak to
I can just speak to
the the work that I'm trying to do and trying to bridge the gap between between media organizations, and between social media that there is there is an intersect there, there has to be an intersect there, why can't there be an intersect there for any of the naysayers that are out there? And, and you know, one of the things that will always get thrown? I've had this conversation a million times with news managers and old school news, people in the business, they're always gonna say, Oh, well, you know, social media is so chock full of misinformation. Well, yeah, of course it is. But that doesn't mean that you ignore the good information that is there doesn't mean you ignore the information that is there that can be that is that is relevant. And so social media, I think this this story is, is shedding a light on how social media is part of the narrative, and is part of the conversation and is part of something that cannot be ignored. And it's been interesting to watch that kind of take on a life of its own over these last several weeks.
Yeah, absolutely. Um, I think it's clear for all to see how much of an impact social media and the internet has had on this case in some pretty, I think, interesting and sometimes unexpected ways. So that's very cool to hear you speak on. And I think that that's such a big factor in how this case has just like, really reached the whole world, honestly, it's really spread across the world, which is why I would just like to really quickly follow that up with a quick follow up question from cyber, which, which is just that, did you ever think that you'd be reaching people in different countries all around the world so
far from home,
Wi Fi now has has reached people I've had viewers chime in from around the world before, it just hasn't been at this. On this level. Not not in the 1000s like this, or even the 10s of 1000s of big shout out to folks in the UK. The UK has really been following the story. So to everybody over there in the United Kingdom, hello. And we've had so many people in the past before Gabby Petito before that story, you know, reach, reach out to me in the past and say that they appreciate the fact that that um, that you know that we are doing work online where it's accessible to an international audience, but never, I've never seen the international audience that we have had on a story like like this one this this is this has changed things as far as just how many people are watching around the world?
Absolutely, really is a worldwide impact. Yes. Thank you so much, JP. So hand it back over to me.
And I'll
just say that I'll try to go I know we're getting into like the last 15 minutes here. I'll try to go as I do on stream with the final question. I'll try to go rapid fire and try to get to as many of these as we can. Because I want to answer as many as I can. And I'll try to shorten up the answers.
Okay, I'm trying to combine questions to as much as I can. So multiple people have asked about like, what the possibilities would be for different interviews with like, law enforcement or maybe canine handlers or even like people who are close to the case for example, like rose Gabby's friend. I'm just like, what the possibilities could be for that I guess.
Yeah. And that's something I think that goes beyond just me I'm part of those conversations in the newsroom. I would like to bring more people on the invitation is always there and to to Nicole and to Joe and to the entire you know, it's all of Gabby's family and friends rose as well the invitation the invitation is always there and and yes, I would love to bring on more experts and but it's, it's again, it's not JB now it's Wi Fi now there are there other people that helped me that as far as the that is That are made as far as how we go about our coverage. But I will. I'll try to I'll try to make more of that data available.
Thank you so much, Brooke. Sorry, had to
unmute myself. And now I have to find my question again. So this question comes from ticks and ticks and Port 29. And they asked Do you believe that the FBI is sharing less information on Gabby Petito's death fence cases like Casey Anthony were to media heavy.
No,
I but I do think I think the FBI is extraordinarily consistent with with the information that they released and how they go about their jobs. But I will say that there's no doubt that behind the scenes the tactics are are and methodology behind investigations and how they're conducted have changed because of social media. There's, there's just no doubt about it. And but as far as information, people, people who are so frustrated by the FBI, not releasing more information, this is this is not anything out of the ordinary for us. In news, we've I've covered many, many federal investigations that are that are you know, where the FBI is the lead agency involved, and this is just their MLS is what they do. They don't release information. As I say on screen, they don't release developments. They don't release updates, they release results. And and so that's that's why we don't have much from them, because there's no results here that's worth in their estimation, sharing out with
the public.
Absolutely makes total sense. And I'm sure many people in the audience listening have seen my comments and heard me say time and time again that the FBI knows a lot more than we do. That's something I repeat to people. So thank you for that.
Adam, for a quick follow up question in here. Is there ever any information that you get handed well before the public would be notified? Like some of the examples were given, like for the autopsy results and
etc.
Sometimes, and I think that down to speaking in generalities here, just not what is this story but other stories that probably get a little bit heads up? There are times where we'll get and this is this goes see now this is this is more beyond the FBI. So with local law enforcement, you build relationships I can speak to I was a reporter in Delaware, big shout out to Southern Delaware. I used to live in Lewis near Rehoboth Beach. And I had unbelievably close relationships with some of Delaware State Police and some of the local local law. I mean, almost to the point where I mean, it was a very professional cordial relationship. But I mean, it was a very, very friendly relationship and you build relationships with local law enforcement, you build relationships with attorneys, you build relationships with with people, and they will, at times, yes, you'll get the Wink wink, you'll get the heads up, you'll you'll get, you know, hey JB, you might want to check this out, or check that out.
And you do build relationships with that and like that, because you will learn that there's trust that there's trust, because they trust you to do right by the story and not to overstep your bounds. And so it's it's, it's, it applies more to those boots on the ground type reporters, when I was a boots on the ground type reporter in Delaware, very similar with Brian and Tim would do, or what else in heading would do or one of our Justin shachar, one of our reporters would do. When I was reporter on, you know, boots on the ground. I felt like my phone was littered with people that would give me those, you know, an advanced heads up on situation, but you do not get that with the FBI, the FBI, you don't have sources with the FBI.
Because think about it from the FBI perspective. First and foremost, they can't if they release information to you what, it's not advantageous for them whatsoever. In fact, if an agent with the FBI releases information to the media, first and foremost, the FBI can investigate that, you know, internally, and that can be career ending for that law enforcement officer. So or that federal agent, why would they compromise everything that they have built to get to that level to the FBI just to release a leak of information to the media, it's just the FBI is is notorious for always staying extremely close to the bat and not releasing any information to the media to the public.
Thank you.
Um, I'm not sure who asked that question. Yes, that is, but I'm just going to throw another quick question in here we have a couple of really quick fact type questions that you might be able to answer with yes or no. What do you or okay. Hang on. Sorry. Do we know when the Laundrie's retained their lawyer
that's a really difficult one.
Because in conversations that I've had this is they have had a previous relationship going back to their time in New York. So like, when did they retain that when they could just say that's always been seen bertolino has always been our attorney. So to say when he was brought on is sort of a, just a really open ended sort of vague concept, because you could say that he was brought on, you know, 10 years ago when they when they originally you know, established a relationship with with him. So, because they could always say he's always been our attorney, and that that makes it difficult to answer that question.
Okay,
I can understand that. Thank you. One other quick question was, hey, I've been following the case closely. Do we know if they're using thermal cameras and if they're using them for potential overnight searching?
I'm. So
they're using FLIR? They're using thermal imaging technology. And they have been, I know that the question has been asked many, many times about overnight searching. I've heard things about overnight searching that I can't report. But I will just say that, that that I know that that question gets asked last a lot and on the you know, as far as whether or not searches have been conducted overnight, the FBI hasn't released any information. local law enforcement has released any information that indicates that they are searching.
overnights. Okay.
Thank you very much.
I'm not sure who I'm passing it to. So I'm going to pass it to Adam. I think Adam actually has one of his own questions that he might want to ask.
All right, yeah. Well, thank you so much me. Thank you for that lead in. So yes, JB I did submit my own question that I would be honored to ask you. So my question is this. Hey, JB, what are some insights that you've gained from reporting on the Gabby Petito case and that could be whether about just your career of reporting or just in life in general and then kind of a part two to that is how do you feel reporting on this case has helped you to learn and grow as a person Thank you so
much. Thanks, Adam. That's that's a very very nice question. Um, I would just say that this the one thing that that has that really has been reaffirmed for me as far as you know, reporting the you know, doing the work that I do or just about life in general just that I'm early in my broadcasting career I tried to be something else you know, they teach you in journalism school like oh, find a journalists and emulate that person and try to be that person and try to you know, model yourself after that person and I really just have grown to despise that advice over over the years I really have I understand why they say I understand why journalism professors and why people that teach communication and teach broadcasting why they they tell you to do that it can be a helpful tool to for you to find out who you want but my big thing is is I am I have learned that the worst the worst stories and the worst you know, the worst parts of my journalism career has been when I've been trying to be something that I'm not and trying to be somebody else and being I've just tried to be me on stream and try to be me as far as the news reporting that I do and try not to be somebody else just that you know don't be anderson cooper Don't be chris wallace Don't try to be barbara walters or Savannah Guthrie just be yourself and and what's been really refreshing is me being myself and sticking to myself and sticking to what I am and people following me that that's there's no there's been no greater reward for me as far as me being me and people liking me for who I am and following for who I am so that's that's been extremely refreshing.
Oh, that's beautiful. JB thank you so much for that and i think i think it's safe to say that we all love you exactly for who you are and who you are really does shine through and it wouldn't be the same with anyone else. Honestly. You know, we got you we got Brian it and but like it really it just wouldn't be the same. So thank you so much for that. Love to hear it. Um, yeah, kind of lost lost track of whose turn it is all as well. So is it cool if I just throw it back to Brooke?
Yeah, go ahead.
That'd be awesome. I do have a question. Actually. Adam, you inspired me a little bit. So if it's okay, I have my own question here to ask at the end. And that would be JB with how big this case has gotten and how much it's impacted people already. What is one positive thing that if you could ask everyone who's followed the case to take one positive thing away from this case? What would that be?
It's exactly what the family has been saying in Positive has to be that we that we we can't Gabby can't have died in vain that there needs to be conversations now about giving more exposure and and putting more goodwill behind, behind other missing person cases. And, and the positive needs to be that we don't just allow this story to happen and not try to change, you know, change things so that future tragedies, but we have to be there and be more vigilant as far as trying to prevent future tragedies. And so I would just say that the puzzle we have to take away from this is that Gabby's mother and father and step mom and stepdad are be extraordinarily vocal, starting the Gabby Petito Foundation and trying to ensure that future tragedies like this
don't occur.
Yeah, that's wonderful. Thank you. It is absolutely beautiful what her family has done. I mean, do you have a final question?
I have like
a follow up question to that one. It goes well, with it, I think, DAF and see asked, what are your feelings about how this case has gained such traction on social media? And how can we get other cases to be this
publicized?
Man, you know, that's really challenging. It's challenging, but I think that it falls on, on, on news organizations and newscasters such as myself to shed light I that's why I'm so proud of news nation's missing in America series and trying to shed light on other stories of missing people. And it really, it really falls on other people to click the Share button. I don't think people really understand on social media, what a retweet and what a share is capable of it. It's so powerful. And people I think people see news organizations say, share this, this missing person's story or share this out or please retweet, and they're just like, Oh, these news organizations, they're just trying to get clicks and they're just trying to get retweets, and they're trying to get shares but don't don't don't read it that way. It's it's all about trying to bring exposure to a particular you know, a particular family that is in tremendous grief. And I think that it falls on news organizations to, to to shed more light on missing people in this country. I think it falls on us as individual journalists, but it also falls on viewers to to care and to care when they see it in their newsfeed not to just continue scrolling, click that share button, click that retweet button, you don't understand how big of a difference that it makes when you when you when you pass it along to another network, another network of friends and another network of followers on social
media. Thank you very much. That's
very insightful. And hopefully it will help all of us listening to like, remember to do that the next time This comes up. There is a question from one of our mods, which I'm not sure if you've seen it, but we do have like a memorial website for Gabby. And they were just wondering if you would like to leave a comment.
A memorial website for for Gabby.
So we collected like, messages of support for Gabby's family, and we've compiled them onto a website and we left a poster with the website address at one of the memorial services. We don't know if they'll ever see them or not, but it's just a little something that we've put together for the
server. Yeah, I would just say, um, I would just say that um, you know, for for for Gabby, I would just say that, um, man, I you know, I don't
know I think that if it's okay by you guys, I think I would have to put a little bit more thought into that rather than kind of answering and kind of spur the moment Yeah, but um, just just because there's there would be so much that I would want to say and, and it's difficult for me to just kind of answer that on a whim but feel free to reach out to me you guys afterwards and I'll try to do something. If, if that's what the community would like. Yeah,
I think after this we will reopen the Google form where people can submit their responses for everyone. And I will send that along if you want to. You can take your time and and put in whenever you like.
I'd be happy happy to.
I know that I know that it's 130. Here we can Why don't we just go for a I see that. I'm getting a little bit more discord savvy here I'm seeing that there is a scrolling chat this wF la JB ama scrolling chat here. I see comments from like Matan. Mais are Maisie and Millie and synbiotic. And a lot of folks Yeah, okay, so now they're really coming in fast. Considering that I'm seeing so many comments here if we wanted to spend another five minutes just to the people who have you know, stayed this long and then been listening for this long be more than happy to just kind of again just go rapid fire for just some of these people that are trying to get in here in the in the text chat. Because
if it's okay with the other mods, I'll just try and rapid fire some questions from the follow ups.
I found a really good one. Okay. Thank you. So this one comes from oil princess. They said, Hi, JB, is it normal for an attorney to make public statements to the media via text messages? Can we believe all the posts on social media that say that they've come from Steven
bertolino? Man, so
we were supposed to get Austin three minutes, and now we're talking about Steven vertebrae? No. No, no, don't don't apologize.
Um, man,
I have a lot that I would like to say
about. But you know what,
let me I will try to
Steven bertolino. Is
is an interesting, it's an interesting wrinkle in this case,
as far as his comments, is his means of,
of talking to the public or talking to reporters. The fact that he has just been communicating via text message, the fact that he is one of the only people that have been consistently speaking here that we can actually use as information. Steven bertolino. is, I think that there was one question that we didn't get to. There was a question that we didn't get to, and I'm looking at it here on the list that you guys the mod sent me here. And it was a it was a it was Oh, here it is. It came from first sea. Lord Kiwi. What is the biggest point of friction that you have with reporting over this case? And I don't want to say that Steven bertolino is a point of friction. But just the unorthodox means that he has of communicating is
so
different. I'm trying to choose my words very carefully here. I'm so different, that it has thrown yet another unexpected element into a case that was already filled with, with so many elements of unexpected, and I I'll share this, I'll share this with you regarding Steven bertolino. Okay. I and this is just this is just my my two cents here. I could not
believe that he released a statement.
During the press conference with Dr. Brent blue, the Teton county coroner, I could I that was that was one where I was listening at my ISP and that's my earpiece, I'm ISB. And and somebody came over and chimed in and said, Hey, bertolino, just released a comment. And I'm thinking to myself, we're not even through this line of questioning. With the Teton county coroner, we're finally learning more about what happened to Gabby. And here we have somebody who couldn't wait another 10 minutes till the end of the press conference to release his statement. I was shocked. I had never seen anything like that before. I think I understand a little bit as to why he did it because he's trying to get ahead of some of the news coverage.
But to not wait until it was over was one of the moments in this case where I think that I just kind of sat back in my chair and was in it was in sheer and utter disbelief. If you were watching on Wi Fi now I came through during a moment of quiet where I said Steven bertolino has released a comment. And I did that just because I was in disbelief over the fact that he would release a statement to the media during something that was so much focused on Gabby. And I think that during all of that, that press conference, I think that I'm not alone in thinking this isn't about Steven bertolino right now this is about Gabby Petito this is about finding out what happened to Gabby Petito and for the attorney for Brian Laundrie and for the Laundrie family to release it at that point in time is just so I'll choose my words carefully, so unorthodox and so unexpected that I was sitting there in sheer disbelief and then additionally He used the word demise to talk about Gabby's passing.
And I'm thinking to myself this I remember reading the statement and I had to look at a couple people in just make sure that this this was okay this is Stephen berlina. right this is the attorney now the the attorney for Brian Laundrie , but a lot of time we're releasing these words, it's his his words, and I just, we had to be we had to be we confident that we were that we were sharing out this information accurately. And he used the word demise. And I'm just I'll just share what where my mind went in that moment. I'm thinking, this isn't the fall of the Ottoman Empire. This is a human being, who at 22 years old was found dead, a manual strangulation throttling. Why? Why are you using that, like, it's just it's been so bizarre, trying to make sense of, of Steven bertolini knows the way in which he has conducted his affairs as far as communicating with the media, and communicating with different members of the media for different I guess, for different separate reasons.
And without, without really going too far, too much farther into it. It has been completely and utterly bizarre following his tactics as far as handling this this case, this story. It's I've never worked with an attorney that that has gone about his business, the way that Steven bertolino has gone about his business in the last last several weeks. I don't care if he never text me back ever again. If if he hears this, and he never text me back ever again, that's fine. I it's not necessarily something that that I'm going to lose sleep over. But I have no problem sharing with all of you hear that I have been bewildered at times by by the tactics that his office has employed as far as releasing information on this story.
Thank you, JB.
I think calling him a wrinkle in the case is one of the best and nicest ways that you could, you could explain it and I do apologize greatly for throwing you a hardball question there at the end, but
it's okay. And we can we can reset the five minutes there. I'm just I'm glad that somebody asked me about about Steven bertolino because I don't want anybody here to think that that is normal behavior for for an attorney. I'm here to tell everybody here that it is that it that Steven Berta llenos means of communicating has been abnormal and unorthodox and just different and I don't want anyone to think that that that I perceive that as being just par for the course because it clearly it clearly hasn't been
definitely and me awkward to you then to to ask the last couple
rapid fire follow up questions you've had. Okay, one
really quick, funny question when you're the most sought after journalist in the world, will you remember us little people?
That's funny. I am. Yes, but no, because I'm never, I'm never gonna be the most sought after journalist in the world. I'm just a fellow human being. But I will, I will never, ever, ever, not care about forums like this, I will never, ever not care about what people have to say. That is so much at the core of who I am. As far as the the industry that I'm in my passion for, for this industry. I care what you have to say what everybody has to say. And I will never not care that that's never ever going to escape me or elude me as far as my, my day to day. So I appreciate it. I am not the most sought after journalists. I am just a human being who goes to work every day and cares about what other people have to say as far as the new stories that we cover.
Thank you so much. And I think that really shows us like I mean, we all know it but you're really just such a really wonderful human. But Jasper three asks, Will you take a more active role in bringing light to domestic violence going forward? And I have one more question after that
little
one for you. I like even numbers so like are so little 145 here we go another five minutes. Um, I I'm sorry. What was the question? When we're talking?
Yeah. Will you take a more active role in bringing domestic violence to life going forward?
Yes, absolutely.
I look, I look forward to social media being used for good and the news industry being used to get results. And I'll do everything I can in everything in my
power to help.
Thank you so much. Um, if we're going to go for a couple more questions. I will pass it to Adam to ask a couple questions.
Yeah, sure. Thank you so much me. Um, yeah, so I see a really good one here that I'd like to ask. And this is from Rojas Camacho, and they're asking, what about new stories do you think seem to build the most compassion in listeners?
I don't understand that
we see that more time, Adam. Yeah, sure.
Um, so they're just asking, like, what about a new story, do you think would build the most compassion in a listener? What would you know, inspire them to be compassionate?
relatability. I think that, um, that, you know, Adam, you had brought up earlier about how there are so many people that have been impacted by domestic violence. And that's a reason why this story is relatable. I think that Gabby and Brian going on a cross country road trip is relatable. I think them being so ever present and so visible on social media is relatable. I think that compassion is built through trying to put yourself in that person's shoes. And I think that at one point or another, people have been Gabby, trying to just go have a sense of adventure about the world and going on an adventure and trying to experience what's out there. And that's a real, very relatable feeling and a really relatable notion. So I think that the compassion stems from relatability and, and that's what we maybe have to look at in the future is trying to establish relatability with other missing people to show that they are just another human being who went missing and it could have been any one of
us. Yeah, absolutely. Um, yeah,
so just a couple more that I see really quickly. So one is another one from Rojas Camacho and that is why did you become a reporter and did you think about a different career choice before and I would just like to combine that with one from Ayana from the future which is what are your self care practices from a long to after a long day of reporting
Wow, um,
so the first one I I originally when I was a kid, I sound so bizarre but um, as a 13 year old I in a 14 year old and a 15 year old I wanted to be a psychologist. I come from a divorced household so many of us do and I went to therapy as a kid you know, when my parents were getting divorced and I saw the the power that that having those conversations and you know one on one conversations can have in the in the realm of mental health and I wanted to be a psychologist and then I went to school and it things just changed in there. I didn't want to help people but my i think that i don't know if i was best suited to be the other person on the side of the room. I think that there are other people that are so much more talented when it comes to the realm of mental health but I think that going to school for two years and originally being a psychology major i think that that helped me in my news career and and so I I'm very grateful for that. And then what was the second question Adam?
Yeah, so it's just about what are your self care practices after a
long day of self care
practices is right here I I find my tats I love my cats. They are like, like children to me and I you know, I know that they're, I'm not it's not that I'm not a dog person. But I talked to so many dog people that will tell me that oh my god there's nothing better than coming home after a long day and your dog is so happy to see you and so I'm so grateful that you're home and is it freaks out because they're just so enamored with you and your whole life is then I feel that way about my cats when I get home every day. My cats will do this thing where they they collapse on the on the kitchen floor and they all they want as rubs and and it might not appear to be like a like a dog with his tongue hanging out and you know having the you know the greatest moment of joy and that you know his owner has come home but for my cats I see that I see that my cats are so happy that that I'm home and it's it's a big it's a huge that's how that's how I take care of myself first and foremost it's it's it's my my wife who keeps my chin up and is all women because she's a former reporter herself. He works for a fox station in Alabama where we met she knows what I need, she knows how my brain operates she knows what I need to do to take care of myself
and and
and my cats are interested just I know it sounds crazy but and I didn't understand I didn't know people started calling me Cat Daddy online and I didn't I don't think I still fully understand what that what that's all about. But I it's kind of does make me smile because my cats are just the two of them are just such a big part of my life. I'll make I'll make you guys Deal with let's just go let's just go to it because now we're now we're past 145 and so now this is now so now I can't end it at 145 so Let's end it at I promise we'll end it two o'clock and my wife is in the other room and she just gave me the nod of approval here so I promise we will go till till two o'clock just because I really appreciate this forum there's I see the comments that are coming through, they're overwhelmingly time that I just can't I feel like I just don't want to leave anybody hanging with any questions that I was unable to get to. So does that work for all the mods? I mean, does that work for everybody here and you got me talking about my cats and now I'm just in a mood where I just want to talk to you guys.
Stream 24
right we just keep going keep going keep the merry go round going on keep the train on the tracks will go to two o'clock.
We appreciate you JB and as a mom to two cats. I hear you on them being your best friends and and wanting you know to spend your your time with them and them being your comfort. I I hear that
for sure. Yeah, we
all do. Definitely. I mean, you've seen our pet pics channel in here, j v. And you're you know, that we have we have cat lovers. We have dog lovers. We just love our pets. We love our animals. So we are right there with you. That is awesome. That is beautiful.
Yeah, so
I want to ask us Kay's question here. What do you think about the people in this Discord server compared to journalists? Who asked for info during like press conferences and
stuff?
I don't I don't know if I necessarily like the cow. How? How people in on discord compared to the reporters in the room asking questions.
I think like how Yes, she says yes.
Okay. Um,
I think that I think that people have done a phenomenal job as far as far as asking the right questions. And I, you know, I will just say that you know, that there is value in and read it in this way, and that you can upvote and downvote things that are relevant to people like, if there was a question that you wanted to ask, you can upvote and downvote, the ones that you that you like or dislike, and I think that as far as the cream rises to the top there on that there is a there is a benefit to that to that system. And I have seen so many outs. This is why I love interactive journalism is because there we're not we're not perfect in the media. There are times where we don't think of the precise, perfect way to ask a question. But when we see questions and comments come through on social media, and in the live comments section, it opens our eyes to wow, you know, maybe I didn't think about it this way. Or maybe I didn't think about it that way. We have some unbelievable hardworking professionals in our in our newsroom. But even even, even to us every now and again, we are enlightened by something that we'll see on channels such as discord or on channels, such as Reddit, or, or on Twitter or on Facebook. So big shout out to people that have really been carrying the conversation forward
online. Thank you so much.
I will pass the question to the
next person. Although,
so I've seen a couple of questions. This one comes from Dixon Dixon again. But I've seen plenty of questions about the same topics I'm going to kind of combine in a way. Do you think that since Cassie spoke to two media and since we've seen more of him in recent days, out in the yard and such Do you personally think that Chris Laundrie or even his wife will speak to media
anytime soon? No.
No, I don't I don't I absolutely not. They are radioactive. As far as it's gotten to the point now where there's just so much volatility. I don't know if anything that they would if they came forward. I don't know how much. You were is the level of believability there. How much would people really I mean, there's just so much vitriol out there that I'll tell you this if I'm Steven bertolino and I that's that's a very bizarre concept for me to kind of put myself in Steven bertolino shoes, but I will just say that if I was SB i would i there's no way I'm advising my clients to do an interview. Without radioactive they are in the story
right now. Charge makes total sense. Um,
do you have a question to ask?
Um, yeah, sure.
So I know that there are a few people asking a little bit more about the laundries Mustang that was found at the reserve. I know that there's been a little bit of confusion around that. Do you have any details or Inside around when it might have
gotten there looks like he cut out a little bit yeah no I get that
I get the premise of Adams question though and the timeline surrounding the Mustang has this has been the timeline surrounding the Mustang has been very unclear there there have been moments in time that we can that we can hone in on and I don't have the dates here in front of me but you're not I'll just say this you're not alone if there's been some confusion surrounding the Mustang when it got there of course we know when it was when it was ticketed when it was given the citation but the the actual arriving of the Mustang and the there has I know that there's been a lot of questions about that we have I think we have a pretty good good ideas to its its whereabouts and tracking where it was and but I don't have that information in front of me here at home but I do know that that has been something that people have been really asking about and because it's it's a it's a part of the story there's
no doubt about it.
Yeah, and we just have a quick little thing you know, I think we have a lot of people asking when you might be posting amoment and Ziggy your cats in our pet pics channel a lot of people are looking forward to that.
I'll do it I'll do it right after right after this. We have some of the some of the chat here and kind of hilarious that everyone wants to see my cats but as I will do that right afterwards here when I Mama's is right here next to me. He's, you know, doing what she does best. And that's sleep. But I will I'll share that here in a bit.
We love it. Thank you so much and
last questions so that we can end before two o'clock. Paige asked, What do Gabby's family want her to be most remembered for? She seems like such a
beautiful soul. Um, you know what?
That's a really good opportunity. Hold on, hold on. Wait one second.
Where is it? I know it's right here. Here it is. So when I
was with Nicole on this past, this past weekend, she gave me the prayer card from from Gabby's funeral, and I'll just kind of let Why don't I let these words kind of do the talking here. I was really touched that she that she brought one down for me, I could not be Gabby sumrall of course I was I was stationed in Tampa. But I'm here I'll read I'll read the back of this where I think I think Nicole would want that. And it
reads, it reads Gabby Petito Let it be
in quotes. Of course the letter B is the the tattoos that the whole family received here. And, and it reads as follows. Do not grieve for me, for I am free. I am traveling a path The Lord has taken me be not burdened with times of sorrow. I wish for you the sunshine of tomorrow. Perhaps my time seemed to brief do not lengthen it with undue grief, Lift up your hearts and share with me the memories that will always be and that's that's the poem that is here on the back of the prayer card. And I just I don't think these words were were chosen without a very specific specific intent and that intent being that that's how the family wants Gabby to
be remembered.
Wow thank you for sharing that with us trophy I can confidently say I'm sure I'm not the only one here with some what is right now that was beautiful. Yeah.
Yeah, I was really close to and it was um, it was just a couple of days later that I got the prayer card from my uncle. And so it's it's it's, it's these two prayer cards now they have been my inner in my inner jacket pocket with me as I've been going to work every day since I received them so literally keeping them close to my heart because that's um, it sounds cheesy. I know it sounds corny, but that's just it's it's been really it was extremely I wasn't expecting it. It's very, very touching to me that that Nicole brought me one because she wanted me to have it. And of course picking up one from my uncle's funeral the other day. That was that was difficult, but just having that with me is is very, very special and near and dear to my heart.
Absolutely. I don't think that's corny at all.
I think it's beautiful. So beautiful. All right.
Well JB we can't thank you enough for doing this and for doing it for three hours. We appreciate you so very much and this has been fantastic. I've seen nothing but glowing feedback in the chat as it as it goes by that people are so so happy. With your answers so happy you're here and we can't say enough how much we appreciate you doing this
yeah thank you guys
I really appreciate it um yeah let me just a big thank you to to the committee I'll just give some some shout outs to what I'm seeing here in the in the texts from from SK from Jamie b 78. From hey it's Emily from just so many people here on mela chromatic I think that was there now they're coming in really fast I just a lot of love here and most most of all guys thank you to all to everybody here on discord you guys have an incredible team of moderators who who reached out to me and and when I when I saw that that you guys wanted to to to do something I was it was just it was so easy for me to to to want to do this because you guys have been just so warm with your invitation and let me just one more time I'll end that by saying that you know that we put out on Twitter that somebody had said you know when I when I had originally said that I was gonna be going on discord you know somebody commented on Twitter or something to be effective Oh JB just making it about him and it's not that that's exactly what I'm trying to change here that it isn't about me it's it's about an interactive journalism.
And the reason that I'm here on discord is because your comments here and the collaboration and the goodwill that has occurred here is near and dear to my heart and it needs to be more at the center of where newsrooms the how newsrooms evolve in the future as far as having these conversations from a news perspective that keep in mind that your comments here on social media whether it's on discord or Reddit or Facebook or Twitter or YouTube wherever it is that the comments here matter and what people how people respond to news stories matter.
So I really appreciate being given the image of my first time on discord I really appreciate it. I know that tik tok another community that is very vibrant I really appreciate just all of the people that have been following me across social media I've tried to continue to do right by you guys and continue to just be me and and treat every story that I cover with compassion and with the accuracy that they deserve and just the big more time A huge thank you to to the to the whole mod team here for for allowing me to be part of this and yeah, I'll just say right back love you guys and really appreciate the opportunity to be here today.
And a huge thank you to you for being here and a huge we love you from everyone that's calling in the chat right now because it's coming through consistently.
We love you, JP thank you
so much JP and thank you to everyone in the audience who participated today we're asked questions. super great, insightful questions. I wish we could have gotten to every single one but I think we did our best in the three hours we had it was it was awesome.
Yeah, and I will
all end out by just saying that. I'll try to find some my two cats here. Yeah, they've gained a little weight over the years. It's all out of love. And I'll try to find a cue for mama and Ziggy sake I will try to find some flattering flattering pictures for for the two of them to post here in the pet pictures channel here momentarily.
It's not quarantine. Wait, we've all got it. Right.
Exactly.
All right. Well, JB take care and enjoy the rest of your day to rest up and take some time for yourself. Thank you so much.