Twitter Bashing at Moncton shooting

By Stephen Pate – Canadians have witnessed again the impact of social media, mainly Twitter, to instantaneously cover breaking news.

Since the 7:30 PM June 4th shooting of 5 Moncton RCMP officers, which resulted in three deaths, Twitter has been the go-to place for the latest news.

At midnight last night, it was a Twitter post reported the captured of the alleged shooter.

 michelle thibodeau@YourMichelle  ·  2h

Twitter dangerous?

CTV News and its regional affiliate ATV have tried to portray Twitter as a dangerous source of mis-information that could help the killer. Those stories are a wrong and a hopeless attempt to discredit social media.

Citizen journalists from Iran who reported 2009 post-election atrocities including the murder or Neda Soltan. That story was first carried on LiveLeak, Twitter, then bloggers and YouTube before the BBC, CBC and US networks covered it.

The 2010 G20 protest and police violence in Toronto were covered minute by minute on Twitter then broadcast after a delay by the CBC and CTV.

Twitter always ahead on Moncton Shooter

Three sightings of the alleged killer Jason Bourque were reported yesterday morning on Twitter before CTV, ATV or CBC reported them. While the CBC and CTV broadcast talking heads without any real information, Twitter had real stories about Jason Bourque’s background and friends.

Somehow the US media publication Business Insider published Ex-Coworker Says Suspected Cop-Killer ‘Wanted To Go Out With A Bang’ at 1:30 AM Thursday morning.

“I never took him seriously, but he always said he wanted to go out with a bang and bring people with him,” recalls Caitlin Isaac, who worked with Bourque at Walmart several years ago, until he was fired. He wanted to “give people something to remember him for.”

I listened to CTV News live stream until 2 PM and they were always 30 minutes to an hour behind Twitter. You don’t need to ask why people preferred Twitter – it was more accurate, almost instantaneous. Twitter also allowed people to express themselves, which sometimes gets a little messy for those who like their news censored.

CTV Twitter bashing

By supper time ATV ran a story on the dangers of “social media” including a talking head who provided the network with the authoritative negative quotes on using social media. Moncton Manhunt: The Pros and Cons of Social Media

Of course, the story was self-serving with CTV suggesting the public should trust them to filter the news. Twitter is a double-edged sword according to ATV.

CTV National News carried a story telling people not to Tweet police locations against a backdrop of a stake-out in Mountain Road in Moncton. The message is: let us do the reporting. We’re the professionals.

Frankly, it’s too late. We don’t believe them. The different media have important roles to play in informing the public. It would be more honest to accept that and use each source instead of Twitter bashing.

Follow me on Twitter at @sdpate or on Facebook at NJN Network, OyeTimes and IMA News Buzz.

Video is copyright CTV News allowed use as Fair Dealing under the Canada Copyright Act, Section “29.2 Fair dealing for the purpose of news reporting does not infringe copyright if the following are mentioned: (a) the source… or (iv) broadcaster, in the case of a communication signal.”

By Stephen Pate, NJN Network