DISQUS

Scott Pantall · 4 months ago

It doesn't matter who gets the news first, it matters who gets the news right. I like your thinking, Sarah.

Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed and other word-of-mouth news sources are good for getting the general idea of a story, but when I want to find out if the story adds up I still turn to an "old media" source.

David de Beer · 4 months ago

It doesn't matter who gets the news first, it matters who gets the news right

that is a good point. The drive at present (in whatever category of interest on the internets) is to get there first, speed over detail. Some people need to be the first to know and need to be seen as the first to know. Twitter et al is great for getting the word out and raising awareness, but in-depth reporting takes time. I like me some in-depth and I'm willing to wait for it.

RexDixon · 4 months ago

NBC had a good Dateline of both MJ and FF last night. Sometimes old media is still kind of cool with taking it's time. Now the speed of the news spreading, I think we all need to get use to it. That is what twitter has permanently ushered in. People like the SalesForce guy gets it, and so do others. While real time is cool to get the news out there faster, they need to come up with a way to make faster better. :)

Bob Caswell · 4 months ago

Nothing much too add, just wanted to say thanks, Sarah, for an insightful post. I've had similar thoughts on this topic for a while and am glad to see I'm not alone. I mean, I love the Interweb and all, but I think it still has a ways to go before it replaces every other way I get information...

LarryLa · 4 months ago

I agree that CNN was more interesting than Twitter, but that's not saying much. I think it was the right thing for the first few hourse, but I was sick of it all by the end of primetime. There's something I despise about the media, or people for that matter, constantly camping on a story that has no expectation of advancing. I would have much rather they take their time and put together a great package for Saturday night rather than just talk to random people and show random pictures all through primetime bumping all other shows.

Robert Fruster · 4 months ago

This Great reading....

Marcus · 4 months ago

I agree. I enjoy the "heads up" I get from Twitter and Facebook, then I can turn on CNN for the "real story".
Which makes me wonder about all the things I hear that I don't deem interesting enough to investigate further.

Robert Payne · 4 months ago

Great post, Sarah! The speed at which we learn of something is not necessarily indicative of the value it brings to our lives.

Speed matters when a tornado is approaching my house, but I don't care whether it is an SMS message, radio, TV, or a bullhorn that alerts me.

When it is soft news, like the death of a pop star, it some time after that it has an impact. For example, it was a quite a while after Jackson died that I began to contemplate how it fit into the context of my life. And it wasn't the news of it that was the catalyst but instead going to stores and hearing his music playing inside, or hearing every radio station paying homage, or remembering the first time I heard a song or saw one of his videos. For some, this context or contemplation might have come from Twitter, but in that case it still really wasn't the speed factor so much as the conversation. Of course, there are always going to be some annoying users in social media.

The other thing that really matters in this equation is how media outlets cover the fall out of Jackson's death. We all know prescription drugs were a big variable, so let's see some positive lessons and some real journalism come out of that issue. Time in that case is relative.