Something weird happened on Twitter this evening. So-called traditional journalists used Twitter and collaborated with "regular" Twitter folks to report on Hurricane Gustav. Rick Sanchez of CNN has been tweeting coverage of Gustav, and has been chatting with Twitter users in New Orleans and elsewhere. Apparently, Sanchez even projected tweets on his CNN broadcast.
Another Twitter user with the identity GustavReporter is apparently a team of Chicago Tribune journalists en route to New Orleans (in Jackson, MS as I write this), occasionally reporting live via Twitter, and using TwitPic to post still images. I noticed that their photos, like the one below, were not captioned, and they told me this was because they were driving.
The Tribune was tweeting via Twitterific*, an iPhone client which means, yes, a journalist no longer needs a satellite uplink, and can cover a live event, complete with images and even video, using just an iPhone. (Yes, you can capture video with an iPhone, long story, no time to tell it right now.)
Mark Mayhew, who lives on Bourbon St., has been "covering" Gustav on Twitter and tweeting with the Chicago Tribune team.
I don't claim to be an expert on New Orleans or Gustav, and this post is based solely on what I could "see" via Twitter, but it is interesting to watch the unfolding of the inevitable merger of traditional journalism and social media. It is a sad moment indeed when we will no longer be able to say traditional journalists "don't get it." That's going to leave an awful lot of bloggers with nothing to write about.
* iPhone users can also get a free version of Twitterific from the iPhone app store
Tags: Hurricane Gustav, Rick Sanchez, CNN, Twitter, GustavReporter, Chicago Tribune, New Orleans, Twitterific, Mark Mayhew
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