Out of the Newsroom

As a young man working my first job in a radio station, of all the things that I thought were very cool, perhaps my favorite thing of all were the “wire” machines that brought the Associated Press and United Press International wires to life in the closet-sized space that was called the “newsroom”.

Given that this was…well, let’s just say back in the day, these were the old school massive black mechanical beasts that were known as “teletype machines”. Named as such because they were connected to special telephone circuits that allowed the wires to type out all sorts of news and information at all hours of the day and night. When big news broke, the machines had bells that would start to ring. The more bells sounded, the more urgent the news event. Even the staccato rhythm of these beasts normally operating became the “music” of news being made to the ear, and obviously I wasn’t the only one who thought so.

When the Westinghouse Corporation’s broadcasting division, known majestically then as simply “Group W” launched its all-news radio format on WINS radio in New York City in April of 1965, the soundtrack behind the announcers was this very sound of teletype machines wailing away in the background. Legend has it that they kept a old school teletype machine running long after they were officially retired by the wire services, to keep this authentic audio signature alive.

These days, 1010 WINS is still cranking out news around the clock on pretty much the same “You give us 22 minutes, We’ll give you the world” format it has used since ‘65. Alas, the sound of the teletype machine has long since become a digital audio file that is played whenever the news anchor’s microphone is open. But the second you hear it, you know you are listening to the news. The difference of course, is now on the ‘net–you can listen from anyplace in the world on the station’s website.

So I’ve spent five paragraphs going down memory lane to bring you to today. Because in the past 24 hours, I’ve been reminded how Twitter has become my personal wire service.

In that 24 hours, not only has Twitter been the first to tell me of the deadly terrorist attacks in the Indian capital of Mumbai, but its also been the first to tell me of a much smaller news event or two closer to home. It’s told me how one friend coordinated her relatives for Thanksgiving just using Twitter messages. I’ve also followed the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade through the funny updates from street level by another friend.

It’s not always the most important information I need to know, to be sure. It’s often raw data, that is subject to change as time elapses and more details become available. But to this person who has haunted newsrooms (big and small) for over 35 years, it is as much the news in my life as any other source–including the wires that were once delivered by those clattering and clanging beasts that I used to feed rolls of yellow paper and reels of black inked ribbons to. These days they show up on a computer screen with a pretty drab “ping” sound.

Twitter even delivered the news that inspired me to write this post.

The influential blogger Michael Arrington of TechCrunch fame put up a provocative post this morning titled “I Can’t Believe Some People Are Still Saying Twitter Isn’t A News Source” Arrington debating the point made by some, including a blogger named Tom, who counters that it’s ridiculous to call Twitter a news source because it is often wrong.

What Tom and others might not realize is that Arrington is correct, because he calls Twitter a news source, rather than a source of news. News sources are often wrong, and that’s why journalists learn early in their training that multiple sources are needed to report anything as absolutely factual. The oft-quoted motto of the late City News Bureau of Chicago is the illustration here: “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.”

The point is that anything or anyone can be a news source. Someone calls our newsroom and says that there is a fire or an accident in such and such location, they have become as much of a legitimate news source as the press secretary for the Mayor telling us about a plan to balance the budget. In either case, a series of people will go into action to determine if the initial report is accurate and then work on getting the story out to the viewers, readers, or listeners as quickly as they can. Then there will be an immediate push to add more information as quickly as possible and update the previous report.

As simple as this sounds, it is pretty much the entire practice of journalism in a nutshell. Of course there are infinite variations on the theme, but the practice of the craft is based on the simple premise. The only real variable is that of time.

The question isn’t whether Twitter is a news source or not. It is whether or not Twitter, or more precisely the people or organizations one follows on Twitter are trustworthy as a source of news. If someone you barely know Twitters out some information, chances are you might be skeptical of what they have told you. If CNN’s Breaking News Twitter feed tells you the same thing, chances are you’ll be a little less skeptical. (Unless of course you are of the belief that CNN’s news is biased by some hidden agenda, but that is a topic worthy of more discussion at another time.) If a dozen people Twitter the same information, how likely are you not to believe what they are saying?

What makes Twitter an amazing news source is the immediacy of its aggregation of information. Aside from the catchy rhyme in that phrase, the concept of being able to receive many news bulletins from different sources in real-time is where Twitter is unmatched in its simple, yet devastating effectiveness. (OK, maybe matched by a wall full of big screen TV sets in a sports bar with every NFL game on a Sunday–but that’s more recreational than informational.)

And yes, I purposely said news bulletins because the forced limitation of only having 140 characters to work with makes everyone try to write in the style that those old fashioned teletypes made famous. A wire service bulletin was usually a terse few words that could stop the world. (It still is) I used to have some of the ones that moved when I was working. Fading slices of history on paper that communicated such monumental events in a scant few words, such as “Nixon Resigns – Ford to become 38th President of the United States”.
(The entire effect is forever immortalized on a teletype machine in the end of the movie “All the President’s Men”)

Yep, that would have been a pretty solid Twitter message, had it been around back in 1974.

Because back then, I would have never imagined that a teletype machine would fit in my pocket and go with me anywhere. So I have decided that I have to find some sound effects that those machines made and load them into my iPhone to sound off whenever I get some news from Twitter.