It appears the citizen journalists of Twitter are stealing a march on traditional media outlets. Recent high profile news events such as, the Turkish Airlines crash at Amsterdam’s Schipol airport, the US airways emergency landing in the Hudson River and the terror attacks in Lahore, India, were all broken on Twitter.
Users of the site posted their images and text where eager hacks were hunting for stories. This method of story gathering has gained credence in news gathering operations for mainstream media. Indeed, the Twitter post of the Turkish Airlines crash, in Amsterdam, was spotted on the site by CNN reporter, Errol Barnett.
Twitter is responsible for the conception of the ‘free foreign correspondent’. Sky News recently announced the title of their journalist, Ruth Barnett, as Twitter correspondent. In this position she will scour the imagined ‘Twittersphere’ for stories. However, using Twitter demands double-checking facts and then checking again because of the incertitude of sources. But what it does show is the forwardness of reporters, and media outlets, who are prepared to take a chance on Twitterers and integrate mainstream media with civilian journalism.
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