On Saturday, I looked up at our kitchen TV set, almost in passing, as MSNBC was reporting the first word of a shooting at a shopping mall in Tucson.
From that moment, until late in the evening, I was a multitasking news consumer, constantly scouting for information as the story of the assault on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and so many others developed.
Twitter was my police scanner, with a constant flow of news nuggets as well as noise. (Definitions: nuggets = sourced, verified news; noise = original or retweeted speculation or misinformation.)
The cable trio of CNN, MSNBC and Fox were my picture windows.
News organizations’ websites, local (Tucson’s KOLD-TV’s clear, steady live streamed coverage, azcentral.com, azstarnet.com, tucsoncitizen.com) and national (NPR, New York Times, Washington Post, Politico) added layers of perspective.
Aggregators — Huffington Post, Drudge, memeorandum.com — all led me to other news and views.
Facebook kept me company with others who cared about the story. I posted there and on Twitter, noting examples of best practices, forwarding nuggets, offering perspectives of my own.
When CNN used the term “shooting spree” in a graphic:
When it seemed the primary focus of broadcast coverage remained on Rep. Giffords, while it was confirmed that many others had died:
On this terrible day, I was immersed in the news and conversation about it.
What about others? What were their information sources on this day? Curious, I posted this to my Facebook page Sunday morning:
In no time, I had a long list of diverse responses. It’s hardly a scientific survey. Rather, it’s a snapshot of a self-selected sample: journalists, journalism educators or former journalists who may be doing other things these days, but are inevitably drawn to breaking news.
From print:
From broadcast:
Educators:
Other friends:
What’s the message from these replies? People have built individualized news ecosystems. They use push notifications from trusted sources, turn to social media for information, recommendations and connections, count on mobile media to feed them wherever they are, and rely on traditional media for blanket, big-ticket coverage. And clearly, I wasn’t alone in my media multi-tasking.
What about you?
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