Michael Jackson dead – Web beats traditional media to the news
Michael Jackson has died at the age of 50. He reportedly died after suffering from a cardiac arrest and falling into a coma on the way to hospital. The news was broken on a celebrity Web site, and spread via social networks such as Twitter and Facebook before traditional media would even touch the story.
It’s a shocking and premature end to the life of one of the entertainment world’s most famous and iconic characters, but it’s now been confirmed that Michael Jackson is dead. He suffered a heart attack at around 12pm midday at his Holmby Hills home in Los Angeles, and was taken to UCLA hospital after falling into a coma.
Doctors are now saying that paramedics failed to resuscitate the singer after finding him not breathing when they arrived at his home. Michael Jackson was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. It’s a truly global news event, and one which was broken on the Web first, hours before more traditional news outlets got hold of the story.
TMZ.com, a celebrity gossip news site owned by Time Warner, broke the story of Michael Jackson’s cardiac arrest around four hours after it happened. The news then spread across the Web in that most viral of methods, with Twitter updates and Facebook status updates getting the news out there faster than any other method could.
At 5.20pm, TMZ then announced Michael Jackson had died, although its use of just one unnamed source meant most people were skeptical and willing to wait for confirmation from a more reliable source. That confirmation took another hour or so, with The Los Angeles Times, Reuters, and The Press Association then confirming his death.
The big news story is obviously Michael Jackson’s death, but the secondary story is how the Web is succeeding in replacing traditional media when news of this type breaks. Traditional media outlets have to wait for official confirmation before they will report news, whereas sites such as TMZ.com can take a gamble and report news that may end up being declared false.
Then there is the use of social networking sites in spreading the news. Before the Internet, we were totally reliant on television channels, radio stations, and the big media outlets for our news, but now there are so many options thanks to the Web. Which is surely a good thing because it stops news being controlled and filtered in the way that was once standard.
Rest In Peace Michael Jackson. And Rest In Peace Traditional Media.
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June 25th, 2009
Kinda full of yourself, eh? Guess what, a Time Warner property breaking the news isn’t exactly viral.
Dumping unconfirmed stories is exactly why people wait for professionals to validate the story.
I wouldn’t be too proud of speed because you still lack credibility. Come back when reading a news item doesn’t immediately trigger a web search.
June 26th, 2009
The article should have been headlined:
Rumor beats Verification in race.
June 26th, 2009
Ouch!!! That stung, Aquaadverse.
June 26th, 2009
More then the fact that a MAn who once was a legend is dead (Not that i was a fan of his after all that he did to kids n the procession to his doom) These guys are busy blowing their own trumpet.
It really sucks…concentrate on the news Guys let us do the complimenting
June 26th, 2009
Dear King of MUSIC , my music is born from you, it has reached to the bottom of my heart, My Music has reached to sky level heights.
And from the bottom of my heart I LOVE YOU Micheal Jackson, But you are alive always.
The music itself is you, you in me and me in music. I LOVE YOU . You are alive in Music, Music never dies,
Until the World Ends.
YOU R ALWAYS THERE 4 ME
June 26th, 2009
Michel was a gift for all of music lovers, there was life in your music and life live so even your go today your music will live the life of those coming also.
Young Seychellois who love yor music and your loving heart.
Rest in peace.
June 26th, 2009
Michael was a gift for all of music lovers, there was life in your music and life live so even your go today your music will live the life of those coming also.
Young Seychellois who love your music and your loving heart.
Rest in peace.
June 26th, 2009
The web may be in the best position to *break* stories first, but people will always turn to the TV to watch a news story unfold with more analysis.
July 1st, 2009
Dear King of POP…
We all miss u… You made me believe that the empires of the future are the empires of the MIND.
July 31st, 2010
The death of Michael Jackson was a massive shock for anyone who loves music, though considering his circumstances it was possibly not so surprising. The child abuse charges pressed upon him sparked the beginning of his spiralled decline in his health. As soon as he began to depend on medicines to merely get by, that was the time when there definitely was no way back, IMHO.