Breaking News

Interesting how today's bad news from Whistler evolved from my perspective. I'm a bit surprised to say I first learned of the crash itself by way of a note posted by a friend on Facebook. That lead to me seeking out the video on YouTube -- an ugly bit of footage. From there, I went to the Globe and Mail website to get the details. During my few minutes on that site, the headline changed from reporting it as a major injury to a fatal one. From there, I was curoius how the Vancouver radio stations would handle the news (being a radio buff). It was just inside the noon hour, so they all had their daily news structures to follow and ads to fit. I thought it was worth breaking in to report, but there was significant delay at all three stations I was monitoring (NW, WX, Team). For the record, 1130 was first, 980 about five minutes later -- and 1040 lagging about 25 minutes behind as they blathered about today's upcoming Canucks road game to which nobody will be paying much attention.

This leads me to wonder if terrestrial radio reporting is now indeed doomed -- something they've been saying for quite a while now. I had a rare chance to track a vital piece of breaking news through my two favorite mediums, and found the online community came out way ahead. Radio's strength is its immediacy, which sooner or later I gotta think will be eclipsed more consistently by online journalism. The same infrastructure that now lets me share info and ideas real-time with everyone I know online will eventually be perfected by news reporting agencies. I guess it's sort of on its way already with Twitter, etc. The big questions is, how will it be profitable? How will it force us to lay eyes on the advertisements that make it all possible? Maybe I should sign up on Twitter to see for myself. Maybe NOT!

TV ads came up on a podcast I recently heard, referring to the Superbowl. The prevalance of PVRs is having an affect on TV production, because so many folks simply buzz right through the commercials. Apparently, the sportscasters chatted at their desk while eating pizza and crackers prominently placed in full view. A good Band-Aid solution I guess, but something's gotta give eventually.

How's this for bad luck -- our cable feed went dark after a power outage yesterday and has yet to return, even though the hydro was back after a few hours. Arghhh! Right at the start of our local Winter Olympics! I really want to see the opening ceremony live, and of course all the action coming up in the next few weeks. If this is ******FLASH!! Bethany just flipped on the tube to do her exercise video, and our cable is back. Hallay Freaking Looyah!! No fooling, that news just broke as I'm typing. Weird.