The terrorist attacks in Mumbai yesterday are a terrible tragedy that makes you wonder about the crazy world we live in.
In our always-on, digital world, it was fascinating to see a flurry of reports stream in as the attacks were happening on Twitter and via Blackberrys. People seeking shelter from the terrible violence around them were communicating with the outside world wirelessly in real-time. The world has become a lot smaller, and the gap between when news happens and when it’s reporting has shrunk as well.
The way people are getting the news is radically different than even five years when most people would learn about major, breaking news on CNN. Now, people get breaking news even before news organizations can start broadcasting it. As well as something happens, “citizen journalists” are filing reports.
Some of them are breathtakingly accurate from the on-the-scene “reporters”; others only provide bits and pieces, but it all part of the how news is now disseminated.
For more thoughts, Mathew Ingram has a post on Twitter being a source of journalism. TechCrunch has a post listing some of the Tweets from the scene.
Technorati Tags: india, twitter
2 Comments
#Mumbai ~ 1st Tweets Timeline & Chart… http://tweetip.us/lkurv
Hi Mark,
Timely post, and I'm glad you mentioned "citizen journalists" — I'm not a fan of that term, as I blogged about today:
http://blogs.gcigroup.com/fineprint/2008/11/27/iv…
Thanks,
John.