Were reporters right to solicit information from students web pages?
Bloggers and citizen journalists have worked themselves into a lather after the Virginia Tech shootings over the arrival of “big media” at their digital doors. The tragedy may have been the moment when mainstream American news channels woke up to the immediacy and power of personal accounts on Facebook, Flickr, MySpace and Twitter. But it was also the moment many web 2.0 users first encountered digital doorstepping. A LiveJournal blogger known as Paul who wrote about his girlfriend Kate being injured in the shootings was soon greeted with postings from mainstream media from around the world, including ABC News, NPR, CBC, Australian radio and the Guardian. Some online reacted with hostility. “Ghouls!” wrote one anonymous user. Trisha, a student from Utah, added: “I think it’s sick how the media vultures are descending here.” This reaction at a time of tragedy, in the perpetually overheated blogosphere, is understandable. But it betrays a lack of understanding of both the internet and th
