A brief video history of WBEZ’s blog coverage of all things Blagojevich

A brief video history of WBEZ’s blog coverage of all things Blagojevich
AP Photo/Paul Beaty
A brief video history of WBEZ’s blog coverage of all things Blagojevich
AP Photo/Paul Beaty

A brief video history of WBEZ’s blog coverage of all things Blagojevich

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As timelines and photo galleries pop up all over the local media landscape, it occured to me that we have a living, breathing archive of video snippets covering the Blagojevich story for three years.

It’s an archive that includes everything from straight-ahead press conference coverage to quirky side stories inspired by the news.

Here’s our video tour:

Our first video coverage featured a quick interview with then-WBEZ political reporter Ben Calhoun (now a producer with This American Life. He needed a tie to go on TV:

The next day, Blagojevich had a press conference. WBEZ’s Andrew Gill was there to document one of the more chaotic press conferences in recent memory:



And then a few days later, along came a man named Roland. In this clip, he inexplicablly calls out Congressman Bobby Rush from the audience:


Or this little clip about what it is actually like to be in a Blagojevich presser. The two-minute warning and the media waiting for the accused:


And another behind-the-scenes look, this time at a February 2009 press conference with Roland Burris:


Flash forward: The first Blagojevich trial begins. Steve Edwards and Criminal Justice Reporter Rob Wildeboer discuss the trial/circus from the Dirksen Federal Building while Blagojevich makes an appearance:


Here’s a summary of the first trial’s closing arguments:


We started to get fancier when we got our new cameras. But still using the old Flip, here’s a great piece under the header “City Room,” a web-series following our reporters on big stories:


And now, enter the fancy cameras - just in time for the first trial’s verdict:


And of course, as Blagojevich started the second trial, the circus got weirder. Here, Blagojevich signs an orange:


And Steve & Rob debrief on Blagojevich’s time on the stand:


Here is another episode of “City Room” after we hear the verdict from trial #2:


And this one is a great behind-the-scenes look at the WBEZ Web team getting the details of the verdict online:


And finally, today. WBEZ’s Andrew Gill is with WBEZ’s Al Keefe up at Blagojevich’s house. This will probably be the final piece of video we produce for the “City Room” web-series, involving Blagojevich. Should be up tonight or tomorrow.