Dan Gillmor points to the ‘blog-style’ coverage of today’s Virginia Tech shootings in the local Roanoke Times, saying ‘It’s the right format for this kind of event.’ With developments coming in every few minutes, I absolutely agree. Short text items, posting anything/everything as soon as it comes in, chronological presentation. In fact, why not go a step further, and do it in true blog format?
Presumably our more blog-friendly media outlets in the UK (Telegraph, Guardian, maybe the Beeb) would be able to instantly create a new blog instance within their existing systems, to cover any similar stories over here. Others – including those who pride themselves on breaking news coverage, like Sky – might do well to have an installation of WordPress sitting quietly in a corner, waiting to be called into action. (It might be worth having this off-site, too – just in case.)
It interesting that as I watched the BBC report the breaking news it was doing its usual trick of asking for people to send in their views or images if they were there.
Yet, reading Robin Hamman’s blog last night it is clear that live text and video content was available but that the students behind it didn’t need to rely on using the BBC as a conduit to the public, they were able to post it themselves and become the media – citizen journalism at its best.