Media Never “First on the Scene” Again?


Posted: June 4th, 2008 | By: Steve Mullen | Filed under: Social Media Opinion | No Comments

I just came across an interesting post on CBS’ Couric & Co. blog from producer Scott Conroy.  Conroy was coming out of his apartment building just minutes after the fatal crane collapse in New York City last week.  As soon as he figured out what was going on, he grabbed a digital video recorder, expecting to get some of the first video.  He didn’t.  Here’s what he found when he got to the scene:

There were already dozens of journalists—mostly the kind who don’t receive paychecks for their work—wielding home movie cameras, tape recorders and cell phones. Being first on the scene of breaking news seems almost impossible now, unless, of course you are the news.

One local resident handed me a videotape he had shot from his nearby window less than five minutes after the collapse. Even though the tape was filled with home video of a family vacation, he was willing to give it up to a stranger in the hopes that CBS News might use the few moments of video he shot. In the YouTube era, it seems that almost everyone wants to help document our times.

I got out of the news media business in 2000, right before social media or “citizen media” (whatever you want to call it) stuff blew up.  Conroy’s experience certainly begs the question — will the media ever be the first on the scene of “breaking news” again?

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