Rocky Mountain News "tweets" dead boy's funeral, now (thankfully) being savaged

But it's not the same thing SF. Not even a shadow. You say it is but what you are subtracting is the human element of emotion that the writer is supposed to attach to the story.

Yeah, technically, you are correct. They are two different versions of the same story.

One has a heart and the other his heartless. I guess you check your humanity at the door like this grabass clown checked his at the time clock.

No way would I defend such a piece of shit. And I'm surprised you would, too.

 

This is kind of judgement we have leading our newsrooms today. Wow.
I'm sure there are some that will say how is this different than TV coverage of Russert or covering a funeral for print or the web, maybe someday this will be shrugged off, but not today.

 

oh, and I've done live blogging from a game multiple times. even then it wasn't this worthless. unless there is something of value in what you write, why write at all? you don't give straight, bland pbp in that situation, anway (a game, I mean). you use the platform to give the reader an additional point of view, with observations and oftentimes editorial content, throughout. do that here and maybe it isn't quite as bad.
utter failure.

 

Not a good idea to get cute while covering a kid's funeral.

 

I won't defend twittering at a funeral in this manner, but I look at it as someone pushing the envelope of new media - too far in this case. It's not as though this sort of thing shouldn't be attempted in the future, but this is clearly a bad example of how to do it.

You've got to find the line and nudge it once in a while, but never cross it. The RMN crossed it in this case. Hopefully others will look at the situation and learn from it.

Maybe you can twitter from a funeral, but be more human about it? Or maybe the lesson to be learned is that it's a flat-out mistake. Until someone else attempts to find out where the line's going to be, I'd prefer to reserve judgment on it. It's easy to have an emotional response but in the context of where the industry is going, it may be more valuable for journalists to step back and look at it from other viewpoints.

 

Re: Rocky Mountain News "tweets" dead boy's funeral, now (thankfully) being sava

Then you pretty much proceed to defend twittering at a funeral.

Seriously, can you see any scenario in which it's respectful to be thumbing away at a blackberry or tapping a keyboard while someone's loved one is being lowered into the ground only feet away? Seriously? HOW can you be more human doing that?

As aside, the Fayetteville "Tech Sassy" blogger who thinks this is a good idea just identified herself as a Florida grad in the comment section (while responding to SJ's he-who-must-not-be-named, no less).

First DaSilva and now this one? WHAT the HECK are they teaching in Gainesville these days?

 

How did covering the funeral even advance the story? The family is sad, every one is sad. OK.. did they also twitter about the sky being blue? Why is this even newsworthy? Aren't those the bigger questions about if/how journalism has lost its way that this story should spur?
Let's face it, if the funeral of a 3 year old boy isn't a private affair, then what the hell is?

 

If a journalist ever Twitters a funeral I'm attending ... the funeral home will be able to schedule the next funeral very quickly.

Completely tasteless and not acceptable.

 

Paying a grown-ass man to go to a funeral and type in "rabbi says stuf" doesn't really strike me as groundbreaking.

I'm 25 years old and a Deerhoof fan, FWIW.

 

The vigilante streak runs strong on SportsJournalists.com.

 

Please answer me this, in all sincerity: Who. the. fuck. needs. play-by-play. of. a. funeral?

Baseball games, I can understand. Football? Absolutely. Political conventions? City council meetings? Sure!

Who in the world is so fascinated by a funeral that they need play-by-play because they can't wait a few hours for the story?

"I don't have time for perspective. I want to know what color the flowers on the coffin were while I ride the subway to work."

 

Justice is best served swiftly and in large quantities.

Seriously ... at the very least I'd take the damn Blackberry/phone away from the reporter. I suspect I would have help.