The Reno air show crash was exactly the kind of story that shows why Twitter is an essential tool for journalists covering breaking news.
I was traveling and training and too busy to take more than passing notice of the story, much less study how journalists used Twitter in covering it. But Carl Lavin did that in his blog post: Lessons From Reno: Time For A Disaster Drill. I highly recommend it for editors and reporters covering breaking news, for top newsroom editors and for social media editors. I especially recommend it for curmudgeons denying the value of Twitter.
My favorite detail: That Andy Carvin found eyewitnesses to the crash by searching for tweets near Reno using OMG and various expletives. You can do this kind of location-based search easily with Twitter’s advanced search tool.
By the way, Carl’s daily email newsletter and blog posts give timely tips on news coverage. If you’re not already getting the newsletter or reading the blog, I recommend checking it out.
The Buttry Diary 
Later today I’ll be posting a blog item that says that Twitter is the ideal device for breaking news. (We’re working on logistics; it’s my fist blog item as dean of the Manship School of Mss Communication at LSU.) Funny. It was based on the Afghanistan-embassy raid last week. But (as a former Reno resident) I was addicted to tweets from the air race and very much agree with Carl.
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Thanks, Jerry. Please share the link here when you post.
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