Fort Hood: The Online Conversation
The shooting highlighted the emerging role of social media — particularly Twitter — in producing instantaneous accounts of breaking news events.
Shooting Shakes Up Media Stories
The Fort Hood attack was primarily a television story, with some cable news shows quickly turning the shootings into a kind of wedge issue.
Bloggers Express Outrage Over Assault
Many commentators put as much blamed the bystanders to the crime, and American society and culture, as those who actively participated.
Not Much New News
For the fourth week in a row, health care, Afghanistan and the economic crisis accounted for roughly 40% of the newshole.
Float On: Balloon Boy Still King Online
Anger over the drama surrounding Falcon Heene lived on in the blogs. Meanwhile, those on Twitter celebrated the five billionth tweet.
Bonus Coverage
Anger over Wall Street compensation brought the economy back onto the media’s radar. Also, Obama versus Fox News made news on all outlets.
Social Media Float in Thin Air
While blogs filled with global warming skepticism, the rest of social media tweeted about Balloon Boy.
Balloon Boy Takes Media for a Ride
While votes and arguments about health care lead the media agenda for the full week, the story of an empty balloon was the No. 1 topic from Thursday on.
Email, Nobel and Dave
News of an email scam that compromised thousands of passwords animated the blogosphere until late in the week, when the focus shifted abruptly to Barack Obama’s surprising Nobel Peace Prize. On YouTube, a Letterman mea culpa drew the most hits.
Afghanistan No Longer a Forgotten War
After years of being ignored by the media — the war accounted for only 1% of the newshole in 2008 — Afghanistan has emerged atop the news agenda.
