July 23, 2011

There were 2 posts published on July 23, 2011 (this is page 1 of 1).

A little bird told me

It’s been said that the newsroom at the News and Observer has been so quiet lately that one can hear a bird chirp. That’s no surprise to anyone who works there because the latest addition to the newsroom is a bird.

Sources say a bird somehow found its way into the N&O’s cavernous press room and has spent the past few weeks flying around in a panic. The desperate bird has apparently rebuffed all efforts of N&O staffers to rescue it.

N&O staffers might be better off convincing the bird that calling a large, air-conditioned room home might not be so bad now that our outdoor temperatures are routinely topping 100 degrees!

Norway terrorism

By Johannes Grødem, Wikimedia Commons


I was working away yesterday when I got news that an explosion had rocked government buildings in Oslo, Norway. Later evidence pointed to it being a bomb, that a far-right Norwegian may be responsible, and that the same Norwegian is accused of a mass shooting at a summer camp soon afterward.

The first thing I noticed is that a mere 10 minutes after the bombing, I was seeing photos sent through Twitter from eyewitnesses on the scene. Putting the loss of the tragedy aside for a moment, it’s an amazing world we live in now where most everyone carries a camera and anyone can break news. It’s become my habit to turn to Twitter, Twitpic, and other direct-from-eyewitness sources whenever a big story is breaking. Nearly every one of these breaking news photos on Twitpic has comments from a media company or wire service, asking permission to run the photo. It’s obvious I’m not the only one who goes straight to these sources.
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