The Mechanics of New Media for Breaking News

Michael Surtees, the man behind DesignNotes, recently posted an interesting piece on new media’s role in delivering breaking news.  He looked specifically at the interaction between different media sources with regards to the crash of Flight 1549 into the Hudson River.  Just by keeping up to date on his tweets, tracking down live video and photographs, Surtees was able to stay involved with the events as they took place.  In his article he highlights how one could follow events through a variety of sites as long as they know where to look.  DesignNotes reflects on the day’s activity:

Thinking about it now, the speed of events was pretty crazy. Within an hour and half I had learned that a plane had landed in the Hudson River, saw images within minutes of it happening, watched the rescue live, hearing survivors being interviewed soon after, and by the time it was over knowing that everyone was going to live – I was listening to music from A Flock Of Seagulls. All the tools that I used to get more info was available to anyone out there which was kind of cool in itself.

[via DesignNotes]