Our top viewed videos of 2010

Depending on the kind of week it's been, I sometimes try to avoid checking out our video view numbers. This is because if there has been a series of bad car crashes, without a doubt, they'll garner the biggest hits of the week. I'm not sure why that is, but I guess it's the same reason people slow down and rubberneck at an accident.

So when I pushed the button to calculate our top videos of the year, I winced just a little, but was rather pleased by what I saw. There are a good number of car crash videos, but there's also a good number of original creative content gathered by our video team here at the Free Press. Below I've compiled a list of our top 10 viewed videos by you. I've removed from that list any non-original Free Press content, which includes the videos listed at the bottom of this post.

1. No Running Water - Chapter 1

The No Running Water series was the biggest multimedia project the Free Press has ever undertaken so to see the first video in the series as our top viewed of the year brings a lot of satisfaction. This video was shot by Joe Bryksa and produced by Helen Fallding and myself.  

 

2. Police react to fatal crash 

Amutha Subramaniam, 17, and Senhit Mehari, 19 died on October 31 after their vehicle was struck by an alleged drunk driver. Winnipeg Police spokesperson Jason Michalyshen provided details to media in this video. Any time young people die and allegedly at the hands of a drunk driver, there's going to be huge interest.

 

 

3. One dead in Waverley crash

An elderly woman died after the vehicle she was a passenger in was t-boned by a semi-truck while making a left turn onto Victor Lewis Drive.

 

4. Traffic circle cam highlights

On the suggestion of photo editor Mike Aporius, reporter Tania Kohut and I were deployed to the infamous traffic circle at Waverley and Grosvenor during the morning rush hour back in October. We edited together this "highlight reel" from the live stream. Laughter ensued.

 

5. 1 dead, 4 injured in rural crash

We headed out to the scene of this accident at the intersection Highway 23 and Provincial Road 200 near Morris on November 9th. Rosenort resident Marj Heinrichs was killed in the crash and several others were injured.

 

6. Church tower crumbles in storm

On May 28, the tower of Knox Church near Central Park was struck by lightning and a 2,700-kilogram piece of Tyndall stone fell to the ground below. It was a pretty incredible sight and photographer Ken Gigliotti captured video and photos.

 

7. Raw Video: Funnel cloud over west Winnipeg

We've posted a lot of funnel cloud videos to our site, but this is the first time one of our photographers was able to catch one in action. Trevor Hagan captured this one near Route 90.

 

8. Oh Canada! A city celebrates

I was on standby at MTS Centre for the Olympic hockey gold medal game. Thousands were watching the game on the big screen and flooded into the streets and down to Portage and Main after they won. The sights and sounds of people celebrating was enough to carry this video.

 

9. Crash victim's sister speaks

Anita Subramaniam, the sister of Amutha, who died in the crash mentioned in video #2 met with media three days after the crash.

 Global Winnipeg provided us with this video of a Vancouver bound jet landing in Winnipeg after experiencing hydraulic problems. The plane landed safely.

 

The non-original videos that made the list are:  

1. Janis Ollson's journey
2. Second lap dance video posted
3. Raw video: Teacher lap dance cell phone video
4. Surveillance video: Bousquet arrest

 

Tyler Walsh, Winnipeg Free Press