Mathew's comments - Latest Comments in Twittering a funeral — why not?

Re: Twittering a funeral — why not?

bluelines — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:19:23 -0000

I think the most offensive part of the whole story is actually the phony moral outrage of, for example, Valleywag. It's simply a tactic to drive more sensationalist page views, so in that sense they and others who are trying to get to the top of Techmeme with this story are much worse than the reporter.

That said, I think that anyone who decides that a child's funeral is the place to "push the new media envelope" is completely lacking in any kind of judgment or sensitivity. I know from direct experience that the death of a child is just different from any other kind of event.

Re: Twittering a funeral — why not?

afhill — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 08:42:17 -0000

>It was just a reporter using another tool to extend a story.

I think the difference is the fact that a reader chooses to open the paper and read a story. The nature of twitter is that it "pushes" the story to you, and you can't really choose to read or not read particular tweets. This person's followers were subjected to these details, and their option would be to completely unfollow this person, or receive the play-by-play of this funeral.

So what's the alternative? It's hard to say, other than perhaps to question if twitter is robust enough to support this sort of information. I think hashtags are a great way for people to follow particular stories, but they're generally for opting-in, not out (that is, I could choose to follow everyone twittering about "osufootball" but I can't choose to block everyone twittering about "childfuneral".

I just think twitter is simply a new communication channel and the etiquette still needs to be worked out. The "push" versus "pull" of information is just a different paradigm that people haven't become accustomed to..

Re: Twittering a funeral — why not?

leonwestbrook — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 19:20:20 -0000

The comments in the ABC NEWS article just make me facepalm repeatedly.

Re: Twittering a funeral — why not?

ilamont — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 17:03:44 -0000

The problem wasn't Twitter, the problem that it was live, play-by-play coverage of a private family travel. If the RMN had used live video with commentary or a live blogger, the reaction would have been the same.

Ian Lamont
The Industry Standard

Re: Twittering a funeral — why not?

Aldi — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 10:59:46 -0000

I'm a journalist, and the only thing I found wrong with it is that it seemed like a waste of time. Real-time twittering of a funeral simply isn't needed or particularly desired by readers. But tasteless or "inappropriate"? Please.

What I did find inappropriate and journalistically questionable was the ABC reporter's inadvertant admittance that her blog bookmark list consists entirely of journalism shoptalk sites and the Daily Kos.

Re: Twittering a funeral — why not?

TheStalwart — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 10:47:30 -0000

In total agreement Matthew.

If it was a family member Twittering the funeral, that'd be a bit concerning. You might say to them: "Dude, try to be in the moment". But assuming the event is worth reporting on, then there's nothing wrong with the reporter doing it. Though I'm not sure what value there really is in realtime updates at a funeral (you pretty much know what's going to happen). Still, that's a totally different issue.

I think the real reason people are freaked out is that they're projecting: In that reporter, they see themselves -- Twittering everywhere, even in situations where it might be unnecessary, superfluous, or vaguely inappropriate.

Re: Twittering a funeral — why not?

mathewi — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 09:23:12 -0000

I agree the Twitter posts were pretty banal, Darren -- and so maybe not a great example of what Twitter can do as a reporting tool -- but then, an awful lot of boring and banal stories appear in the newspaper every day.

Re: Twittering a funeral — why not?

dbarefoot — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 01:19:05 -0000

Call me a belletrist, but I'd add that it behooves the reporter to respect the rules of capitalization, even on Twitter.

Re: Twittering a funeral — why not?

dbarefoot — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 01:17:50 -0000

The question of 'bad taste' is, I think, simpler than people are making it out to be. What were his physical actions inside the chapel during the funeral? Is it appropriate, for example, for a reporter to take notes during an funeral? I'm not sure, but I'd lean toward "yes". That is, a reporter can attend if permitted, but he or she ought to act like a mourner.

There's another, under-reported issue. Looking at the screenshot on SVI, the reporter's Tweets were totally banal and ordinary. What value did Twittering the event that way deliver? What did his 'readership' need to know in real time? The normalcy of his tweets suggests that it was more of a stunt than an exercise in reportage.