Former Mankato news anchor: 'I wasn't drunk'

Former Mankato television news anchor Annie Stensrud says she felt like her life was over after a newscast in which she slurred her words went viral on YouTube and she became known as the “drunk anchor.” But she wasn’t drunk – it was anti-anxiety medication that affected her performance that night, she tells KARE 11 in an interview.

She later turned to alcohol, but then got sober and now has a positive new outlook, she says. She hopes to work again in television.

Here’s a case study by an Internet marketing specialist that examines how a video goes viral, with a focus on the Stensrud newscast.