HERE’S an interesting entry from my erstwhile fellow CNET Asia tech blogger (before I gave up the gig to concentrate on managing INQUIRER.net’s blog network and my other responsibilities as gaming and multimedia editor) Ignatius Javellana, who wrote about the news coverage of the Glorietta 2 blast by both mainstream media and citizen journalists.
Excerpt:
It’s this type of speed and efficiency that frightens me. For one thing, back in the day, when events such as these would occur, it would take a while for actual coverage of the event to even reach those who would probably be only a few blocks away. Take the first EDSA Revolution back in 1986—I was still a kid then but it took hours for people to mobilize, and for the news to reach us. But when it happened again in 2001, within minutes I received an SMS and Inquirer.net (then Inq7.net) already had it on their headline. Because technology affords us this speed and efficiency—wireless connectivity, portable digital cameras, 3G cellphones and more—any newsworthy event can be broadcast in seconds.
And because of the growing popularity of blogging among Filipinos, news of this latest terrible event spread like wildfire. Already within an hour there were hundreds of blogs writing about the explosion, all with their own speculations and theories as to what happened. Hundreds of photos of the carnage were being sent over email, posted on photo blogs. And even better, actual, first-hand accounts of the incident began to spring up—from people who were right there when it happened to people who knew other people that were there even to people at the emergency room of the Makati Medical Center where most of the victims of the explosion were brought. And to think this happened during the afternoon, during a time when loads of people are still online, getting updates from friends’ and friends of friends’ blogs.
My friend Azrael was one such person. Within an hour of the explosion, he was watching the news and already posting images he’d taken from ANC on his blog. An hour after that, another guy on Multiply started talking about his first hand experience of the explosion, even posting images he’d taken himself while he was there.
Indeed, news travels with blinding speed in the age of online media and citizen journalism — and so does fear.
The Chinese have a curse: May you live in interesting times. We’re living in that kind of world right now.
December 9th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Yeah right bro.. we need to relax our mind muna kasi puro nalang problem pinag uusapan naten na try ko narin doon sa ambertrail.. pero doon ginawa birthday ng pamangkin ko and the place and serving of thier employees are very warm and generous.. kaya xmas party namen doon gaganapin..
November 30th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
thess: kasama na rin si salina
panawagan ni idol trillanes eh ‘come and join us’……..
nasaan na yung pinagmamaki ninyong milliones na bumoto sa kanya………
baka puro flying voters yon kaya walang dumating……..
he….he….he……
ang karamihan ng milliones ninyo ay namulat na ang mga mata, kayo na lang mga nakapikit pa……
dumilat na kayo sa katotohanan, please……….
November 6th, 2007 at 3:53 am
thess
mr. clipmaster, wag kang magbulag-bulagan o sadya lang bulag ka talaga.wag c trillanes pag-initan mo!di mo pala cya ibinoto, good for you but how about ung milliones na mga pilipino na bumoto sa kanya????
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Eh, Bulag talaga iyan! He/she is blind with all the money ininapal ni Mrs. Pidal, Sa mukha nila. I didn’t vote for Senator Trillanes, But I believe what he say! kasi yon RDX na sinasabi nila iyan ay ginagamit sa pangsabog sa bomb. Beside the PNP already got the evidence but all of a sudden nawala. Thats means the stolen administration of Mrs. Pidal’s, The one covering things up! ano ang tinatago nila. If they don’t have anything to hide bakit ganoon nalang ang pangtakip nila. Of course they’re hiding something.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:46 am
thess
it’s very obvious who’ve done glorietta blast. kahit mangmang na tao ay maiituro kung sino responsable dito ayon sa mga pangyayari. unang pinalabas ng mga autoridad, isa itong pagsabog na ang dahilan ay bomba with RDX, an ingredient of the military explosive C4, na gamit ng military, tapos ngaun sasabihin na ang dahilan ng pagsabog ay gas explosion cause by chemical leak from a diesel tank? which is which kaya? tapos kinabukasan after the blast, inako ng raha sulayman movement which afterwards e di pala ung pinuno nila ung nagsalita? sino me pakana ng pag-ako? tapos ngaun, lumalabas di pala bomba dahilan ng pagsabog. at bakit kailangang pag-agawan ang mga ebidensya ng military at pnp? dahil me cover-up? para saken, ordinaryong tao lang ako, mangmang, pero malinaw saken kung sino ang me kagagawan ng glorietta blast. hindi si senador trillanes ang dapat imbestigahan, imbestigahan dapat ng seando ang mga nakaupo, simula sa malacanang hanggang sa military. kung noon, nagsasalita sila ng sobra na, tama na, maybe its up to them now to do the same. sobra na, tama na kayo!!!!!!!!!!
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Talagang tama ka! ang blast sa mall ay cover-up ni Mrs. Pidal. Kahit anong pa ang sabihin nila all point to Mrs. Pidal. To cover-up all the kurakutan niya at cronies niya. Dapat mg CIVIL WAR na tayo because that is the only way to get rid of this bugos President of cebu.
November 5th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
jesusmariajoseph, saan ba napulot ni trillanes yung pinagmamalaki niyang witness sa glorietta…………
eh wala naman sinabi kung sino talaga ang may pankana………
walang detailed narration ng mga events that led to the explosions……….
hindi naman pinickup ng mga major news stations ang pahayag ng witness……….
puro hearsay lang din naman ang pinahayag, walang concretong ebedinsya……..
lalong laki katatawa tawa ang ginawa ni trillanes sa kanyang sarili……….
lalong namulat ang aking mga mata na hindi siya karapat dapat maging senador…….
sana si kokey na lang ang kanilang pinaharap na witness, baka marami pang maniwala…he…he….he………
puede rin si zaido, ang pulis pangkalawakan..he…he…he……..
ngawa pa trillanes para sa iyong ikababaksak………..