Breaking news in the ongoing saga of the 25-year-old man accused of killing 12 and injuring 58 during a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises on July 20.
(Source: twitter.com)
Typically on a big story with a lot of risk behind it, we tend to wait until there are as many as three different news organizations reporting it. In this case there were three reporting it, but we saw others saying that there were no arrests or that they had no knowledge of arrests. So there was enough conflict from other news organizations for us to wait just one more beat. At that point we made a very difficult and agonizing decision just to sit and watch. And for Breaking News that was a very difficult thing to do, and I have to give a big shout-out to our editors who made that decision under the pressure to go.Breaking News’ general manager Cory Bergman • Discussing how his team handled the mistaken reporting regarding the Boston bombing suspects — reporting that ensnared CNN and the Associated Press, among others. Describing the platform’s approach, he says, “With us it’s interesting — there’s pressure to be second.” The NBC-owned platform, which is on every major social network, recently launched native advertising in its mobile app.
We get stories much faster than we can make sense of them, informed by cellphone pictures and eyewitnesses found on social networks and dubious official sources like police scanner streams. Real life moves much slower than these technologies. There’s a gap between facts and comprehension, between finding some pictures online and making sense of how they fit into a story. What ends up filling that gap is speculation. On both Twitter and cable, people are mostly just collecting little factoids and thinking aloud about various possibilities. They’re just shooting the shit, and the excrement ends up flying everywhere and hitting innocent targets.
Farhad Manjoo, Slate. Breaking News Is Broken.
FJP: Two things here — Adopt a slow news diet or pay very close attention to how you follow breaking news. Else, as Farhad suggests, take a long walk.
(via futurejournalismproject)
BREAKING: An explosion has been reported near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. (photo via @Boston_to_a_T; ht Evan Fleischer)
EDIT: Check Boston.com’s liveblog for more details.
SECOND EDIT: One early report has the injury count at more than 50.
THIRD EDIT: Please follow our Boston Marathon Explosion tag for more details on this story as we receive them.
Via corybe:
Most newsrooms know that mobile is growing fast. Everyone can see mobile usage (phones and tablets) creeping up on their desktop numbers. For example, The Guardian recently said mobile visits hit 35%, outpacing desktop at certain hours of the day. A growing handful of media brands — including where I work at Breaking News — have watched mobile soar over desktop in audience. And we’ve all seen the stories about the unprecedented growth of tablets, the fastest-growing product in the history of consumer electronics.
Soon, mobile will be the primary way people get their news.
If that’s really the case, then why isn’t mobile dominating journalists’ discussions on Twitter? Packing sessions at journalism conferences? Sitting at the top of “most popular” story lists on journalism blogs?
I have a few theories:
Cory Bergman is the general manager of NBC News’ Breaking News and points to social media’s ease of use; the overall newness of mobile as a form factor for delivering news; and the potential threat mobile poses for advertising dependent organizations among other factors that many news organization have been slow to enter mobile.
Read through for his explanations of each.
See also Jason Pontin’s great article from last year in Technology Review about why publishers don’t like apps. This isn’t to say they don’t like mobile. Instead, Pontin explains why TR ditched their native app in favor of HTML5.
Will we reach a point where journalists start designing for mobile-first instead of mobile-option?
While Twitter’s Turks will help bring much-needed context to the platform, they’re not journalists who verify whether something is true. As we’ve seen with the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut and Superstorm Sandy, Twitter rumors ran rampant. Some rumors turned out to be true, but many were inaccurate or even malicious. Some were important, others were trivial. At Breaking News, we rely on experienced journalists (that’s one of them, Stephanie Clary, above) to verify real-time reports and prioritize their importance. We also add context, associating reports with ongoing stories, topics and locations. But accuracy and importance — along with speed — are the essence of breaking news for any news organization.The Breaking News team to Twitter: Your Mechanical Turk team can’t compete with our actual journalists.
BREAKING: NEW YORK (WABC) — A commuter ferry had a hard landing when it pulled into a Lower Manhattan pier, injuring at least 53 people Wednesday morning.
The Seastreak ferry hit the dock pulling into Pier 11 of the South Street Seaport just before 9 a.m., opening a large gash on the starboard side of the bow.
At least 53 people were being treated, including one person with a head injury. Seven of the injuries were considered serious, and 25 victims are listed in stable condition. Officials say 21 suffered minor injuries.
Passenger Chris Avore estimates that there were hundreds of passengers on board at the time. The ferry carries as many as 400.
“Nothing seemed like it was going to be out of the ordinary,” he said. “There was once or twice where I was talking with a colleague where we actually thought it was coming in a little hot near Brooklyn, where we’re not used to seeing it. Then the next thing we knew, you feel the jolt and then everybody goes flying.”
None of the injuries was believed to be life-threatening, but several people could be seen being taken from the ferry on stretchers. It was believed they were being taken to New York Downtown Hospital for treatment. Dozens of passengers, as many as 60, were being evaluated on the dock in a makeshift triage area and on the ferry.
“Once you basically pass the Statue of Liberty, you pretty much know that you’re going to be there soon, so a lot of people start standing up, milling around, getting their coats and everything like that,” Avore said. “Anybody who was standing went to the ground.”
Most of the injuries were on the upper level, where the people were standing while waiting to disembark. The man who suffered the head injury apparently fell down the stairs, possibly cracking the window.
The ferry was the 8 a.m. from the Conner’s Pier in Highlands, New Jersey, to the Wall Street area. It was scheduled to arrive at Pier 11 at 8:45 a.m.
LINK: PHOTOS FROM THE SCENE
Holy wow. We’ll be keeping an eye on this one, guys.
TIME Person of the Year: President Obama
(Photo: TIME)
In addition to President Obama, the short list for Person of the Year included Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!; Mohammed Morsi, president of Egypt; Undocumented Americans; Bill and Hillary Clinton; Malala Yousafzai, the student activist from Pakistan who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban; Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple; and the Higgs Boson and Italian physicist Fabiola Giannati.
He won a second term. His signature piece of legislation passed judicial muster. He still has weaknesses (see: drones), but ultimately he’s looking a lot stronger in 2012 than he was in 2011. Seems like an obvious one. Side note: Based on the Flickr iOS app alone — a clear sign that things are turning around at Yahoo — Marissa Mayer would have been an awesome choice.
![mar-see-ah:
Arrests made in the killing of U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans, Libya’s state-run news agency reports.
Breaking news from CNN, so take it with a grain of salt.
At least one of the arrests was cited from a direct quote by Libya’s Prime Minister, so it’s a little stronger than that:
[Updated at 3:28 p.m. ET] At least one person has been arrested in the killings of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, Libya’s prime minister said Thursday.
One person was arrested early Thursday in Benghazi, Mustafa Abushagur said on CNNI’s “Amanpour.” “Three or four are currently being pursued,” he said.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_maazqh1LMo1qzvrm1o1_500.png)
Breaking news from CNN, so take it with a grain of salt.
At least one of the arrests was cited from a direct quote by Libya’s Prime Minister, so it’s a little stronger than that:
[Updated at 3:28 p.m. ET] At least one person has been arrested in the killings of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, Libya’s prime minister said Thursday.
One person was arrested early Thursday in Benghazi, Mustafa Abushagur said on CNNI’s “Amanpour.” “Three or four are currently being pursued,” he said.
Multiple injuries reported as Mega Bus crashes in Illinois
(Photo: KSDK-TV)
A double-decker bus plowed into a bridge support Thursday in southern Illinois, injuring several people and closing an Interstate highway in both directions, state officials told NBC News.
The exact number and severity of the injuries remained unclear, but at least 18 ambulances and several emergency helicopters responded to the scene on Interstate 55 a few miles north of Litchfield.
This is a breaking news story. Click here to check back for more details.
Hoping everyone is safe and that there are no fatalities.
Yahoo wants to buy Hulu now too. They’re going on an “I...
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OMG. I got so...
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Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
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Nora Ephron, the celebrated screenwriter and director, died of leukemia Tuesday evening in New York, according to the New York Times.
Ephron, best known for penning the screenplay for “When Harry Met Sally” (1989) and then writing and directing “Sleepless in Seattle” (1989) and ”You’ve Got Mail” (1998), had not been reported as ill prior to a story from gossip columnist Liz Smith — which repeatedly referred to the 71-year-old in the past tense while never pronouncing her dead.
Image: Jemal Countess / WireImage
Note that the Liz Smith story is currently down. (Anyone grab a copy?) The intro line: “I am sitting here with an open box of mail from and to Nora Ephron between the years of the early 60s and a month ago.”
EDIT: We found a cached version on Bing. Here’s the end part:
I won’t say, “Rest in peace, Nora” – I will just ask “What the hell will we do without you?”
Maybe. I hope. Nora will answer. Nora, we ARE all basket cases. There was no one like you.
![thedailywhat:
Breaking News of the Day: Zimmerman Takes the Stand at Bond Hearing: The family of George Zimmerman, charged with second-degree murder in the February 26 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, asked a Florida judge this morning to grant bail while he awaits trial. Family members — testifying by phone because they say they have been threatened — argued that Zimmerman is neither a flight risk nor a threat to the community.
“He is absolutely not a violent person,” said his wife, Shellie Zimmerman.
Defense attorney Mark O’Mara would prefer that Zimmerman be allowed to leave the area, if he is granted bond, because of concerns about his safety. “Normally, the conditions are that you stay local. I think that is going to be difficult,” he said. “I think nobody would deny the fact that if George Zimmerman were walking down the street today, he would be at risk. That is a reality.”
George Zimmerman took the stand to make a statement.
“I wanted to say I am sorry for the loss of your son. I did not know how old he was, I thought he was a little bit younger than I am and I did not know if he was armed or not.”
[lat]
That Zimmerman statement hits a raw nerve. Let’s hope that as this trial commences, a much broader picture comes out. In related news, ABC News acquired a witness photo, allegedly of ZImmerman minutes after the shooting, that shows blood on the back of his head. However, the prosecutor in the case says they were aware of the photo but it did not affect the decision to charge Zimmerman with second-degree murder.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2sa9hRyK11qzpwi0o1_500.jpg)
Breaking News of the Day: Zimmerman Takes the Stand at Bond Hearing: The family of George Zimmerman, charged with second-degree murder in the February 26 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, asked a Florida judge this morning to grant bail while he awaits trial. Family members — testifying by phone because they say they have been threatened — argued that Zimmerman is neither a flight risk nor a threat to the community.
“He is absolutely not a violent person,” said his wife, Shellie Zimmerman.
Defense attorney Mark O’Mara would prefer that Zimmerman be allowed to leave the area, if he is granted bond, because of concerns about his safety. “Normally, the conditions are that you stay local. I think that is going to be difficult,” he said. “I think nobody would deny the fact that if George Zimmerman were walking down the street today, he would be at risk. That is a reality.”
George Zimmerman took the stand to make a statement.
“I wanted to say I am sorry for the loss of your son. I did not know how old he was, I thought he was a little bit younger than I am and I did not know if he was armed or not.”
[lat]
That Zimmerman statement hits a raw nerve. Let’s hope that as this trial commences, a much broader picture comes out. In related news, ABC News acquired a witness photo, allegedly of ZImmerman minutes after the shooting, that shows blood on the back of his head. However, the prosecutor in the case says they were aware of the photo but it did not affect the decision to charge Zimmerman with second-degree murder.
A gunman has reportedly killed five people at Oikos University, a small Christian school, in California. He’s now in custody, according to police.
Image: KNTV
A screencap from the deadly shooting. Note inconsistency in numbers from previous post. Will keep an eye when more accurate numbers come out.
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