As students resume classes, the media still seems to be hovering at every turn – on Virginia Tech’s campus and at memorial sevices and funerals around the country.  Guess the good thing is that this wasn’t a sweeps month because broadcast media’s over indulgence with close up shots of tearful families would have gone way out of control.  There two quick lessons that have evolved from this tragedy:  1) Traditional media once again was  blewn away by ‘cellphone’ video and blogs; 2) Traditional media struggled to tell this story and became overly dependent on experts instead of the voices of those affected. 

On Point One, CNN ran with the shaky, blurry imagery capturing the audio and video of gun shots and the madness on the campus. As local TV networks scrambled to get in place, followed by a few network anchors setting up shop, the real star in newsgathering was the student who happened to be in the right place at the right time.  This crude bit of video is now a symbol of this event, and illustrates how the digital media tools of the 21st Century are in everyone’s hands.  No trained journalist. No filter. Just raw video.  The purists would say that using this video circumvents the reason why the Fourth Estate exists, which is to serve as the gatekeeper of accuracy and truth.  Unfortunately, the purists are getting outnumbered as more events are being told by non-journalists. The reality is that virtually everyplace in the world there is someone who has a cell phone camera or digital camera. Remember, the gruesome hanging of Saddam Hussein video?!

On Point Two, the story was the students.  CNN quickly grabbed Zach Petkewicz, a Virginia Tech senior who barracaded a door to prevent Cho from entering.   NBC’s Brian Williams was most impressive, reporting live from the campus that afternoon and actively seeking out students to tell their version of the story.  ABC’s Charlie Gibson and CBS’ Katie Couric remained tethered to their anchor desks, interviewing experts – a.k.a talking heads.  The fact is that the more savvy news organization would have gone right to the MySpace.com’s and FaceBook.com’s along with other student oriented blogs to get the buzz.  [Note, AdAge writer Matthew Creamer reported that MySpace and Facebook saw a 555% increase in traffic from the Virginia Tech community that day!)

Face it, it’s this demo that’s not turning to the local newspaper, cable or network TV show to get their breaking news.  It’s the text message from a buddy or IM popping up on their screen or a post on their favorite blog that keeps them up to date.   That’s where the story was, and it wasn’t until almost Day Two or Three did the major media pick up on this nuance, if even they noticed.  The irony of it all: NBC got its big scoop when the shooter sent them a multi-media presentation – pictures, text and video.  Without that, NBC and the rest of the major media crowd would have still listening to expert after expert ponder on the future of gun control, campus security and child terrorists while never getting to the heart of the real story.