Information Sharing vs. Journalism

Every time I get in the car, I can find at least one radio station playing an old Michael Jackson song — a tribute to the artist … a reminder of his sad, troubled demise.

The King of Pop’s unexpected death on Thursday caused the nation to stand still. Sort of. See, while the nation collectively paused, typing fingers kicked into high gear. Online celebrity gossip site TMZ broke the story and shaped the narrative — first by posting news of Jackson’s rush to the hospital and then again with word of his death, mixed with reports of drug abuse and audio of the initial 911 call. Traditional news outlets, like CNN and the LA Times, were way behind.

I happened to be home when the story broke. After reading the news on Twitter, I turned on the television to monitor reports from CNN and MSNBC — assuming one of the cable networks would confirm the death and provide more details than one can glean in 140 characters. Boy, was I wrong. From yesterday’s New York Times:

For more than an hour, TMZ was essentially the only outlet claiming that Mr. Jackson was dead. Television and newspaper journalists read the TMZ report but largely held off on repeating it, for fear of making a mistake. Still, the bulletin traversed the Web with remarkable speed, creating a stark divide: on the Internet Mr. Jackson was dead, and on TV he was still alive.

During that hour-long gap, Twitter was buzzing. In fact, at its peak, 15% of all tweets mentioned Michael Jackson. (To put that in perspective, tweets about Iran and the swine flu never surpassed 5%.) Heck, Ryan Seacrest even tweeted that he received confirmation of Jackson’s death from his source at the hospital. In the midst of all this chatter, more than a few comments were made about the slowness of traditional media and the fact that they were being “outscooped” by a gossip site and Twitter. Interestingly, CNN — seemingly aware that these negative comments were being made about their journalistic abilities — tried to explain. To paraphrase anchor Wolf Blitzer, rumors were swirling, but CNN was working hard to confirm information with their own sources.

And that brings us to the difference between spreading information and journalism. As Brian Clark (aka @copyblogger) put it:

Information does not equal journalism, but MSM needs to realize that information no longer has gatekeepers.

Before blogs and Twitter, reporters chose which stories would be shared with the public and when. They used to have time to line up all their sources and weave together a narrative to share with their audiences. No longer. Information spreads too quickly for that to happen — thanks to the immediacy of the Internet and services like Twitter and Facebook.

Check out this August 2008 exchange on CNN’s Reliable Sources between host Howard Kurtz and New York Times reporter David Carr:

KURTZ: David Carr, let’s pull back the camera a little bit. I mean, this was a story that wasn’t reported at all by the major media. Now it’s all over cable and every place else. What does it say about the old media gatekeepers that this got out, that everybody found out about this, without our participation?

CARR: Well, I was taught when I was a young reporter that it’s news when we say it is. I think that’s still true, it’s news when we say it is. It’s just who “we” is has changed. Members of the public, people with modems, people with cell phones are now producers, editors. They can push and push and push on a story until it ends up being acknowledged by everyone.

As the Jackson story was breaking, one of my Facebook friends mocked CNN, updating her status to read “TMZ, the most trusted name in news.” If traditional media outlets want maintain their status as the most trusted, most turned to peveyer of news then they need find a way to balance journalism with information dissemination. I’m not saying they should spread unfounded rumors; however, if they cotinue to adhere to  the old journalism model, won’t they get scooped time and time again? Especially when it comes to breaking news, “old media” can’t be the last ones to the party.

At the same time, we (society) needs to appreciate the resources, skill and knowledge that goes into high-caliber journalism. Excellent reporting happens on television, in newspapers and, yes, even on blogs every day. Sometimes you just have to look a little harder to find it — and have some patience.