A man must have a code

There was a shooting at the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colo., which killed 12 people and injured 58 others a week ago. But anybody reading this likely already knows about that shooting. All my thoughts go out to anybody this tragedy might have affected.

Newspapers are still alive, for now. (Photo courtesy of Jon S, NS Newsflash)

Had this happened 20 years ago, word would have spread out quickly through television and, quite possibly, interviews and visuals at the scene itself. Had it happened 60 years ago, word would have spread out quickly on the radio and there may have been an audio clip from the scene, and visuals on television. Had this happened 100 years ago, word would have spread out the following day through newspapers.

But in 2012, word of the tragedy spread out instantly through social media like Twitter and Facebook. Only a few hours after it happened, an alleged victim posted pictures of himself on Reddit, a victim was identified as Jessica Ghawi, who narrowly escaped the May shooting at Toronto’s Eaton Centre, the suspect’s mother told authorities that, “They have the right person” while the Huffington Post and The Washington Post (and probably many other outlets, really) opened a live blog with any- and everything related to the incident. « Read the rest of this entry »