I’m a news junkie.
There. I said it.
And technology is my persistent enabler.
Because of Twitter, folks on the other side of the world can learn instantaneously of a plane crash, a protest, or a passing. Thomas Friedman will need to revise
The World is Flat—again.
While the efforts of citizen-journalists are laudable, I still depend on credentialed members of the press. Luckily for us, a pantheon of journalists opened Twitter accounts, posting 140-character news alerts and links to substantive articles and blog posts.
Here are my top five twittering journalists:
5.)
@chrislhayes: Chris Hayes, Washington, D.C. Editor of The Nation.
Why you should follow him: Young, hip geek. His tweets convey genuine emotions towards political haps. It’s cute.
4.)
@nytimeskristof: Nicholas Kristof, New York Times Columnist (and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner) and family man
Why you should follow him: The life of a famous, world-trekking journalist is tough. It’s endearing to see him discuss both. He is constantly tweeting from all over the world. His life is awesome—yours, not so much. So live vicariously through him.
3.)
@anncurry: Ann Curry, Correspondent and Anchor, Today Show, Dateline NBC
Why you should follow her: As one of the more reputable tv news correspondents, she has to be constantly up-to-date. She does a great job at delivering breaking news just milliseconds after news breaks. Just a week before Iranians went to the polls in mid-June, she tweeted stunning pictures and provocative observations. Before she goes to bed every night, she tweets profound and inspiring quotes.
2.)
@DavidShuster: David Shuster, MSNBC anchor
Why you should follow him: His tweets are honest and more often than not, bitingly sarcastic. It’s so obvious when he’s frustrated or disappointed re: political haps.
1.)
@jdickerson: John Dickerson, Chief Political Correspondent for Slate magazine
Why you should follow him: Because I’m personally a huge fan of his work. He tweets about current events, his own analysis, his family/home life, and sometimes a combination of all those things.
Other notable Tweeters:
@newmediajim – I think he’s on the camera side of news events, press briefings, etc. Tweets when/where he’ll be shooting. Refers to family members as newmediakid and newmediawife. And it feels like you're getting an inside scoop when he says he setting up at the White House.
@maddow – Just because Rachel Maddow is so disarming.
@anamariecox – She founded
Wonkette. Enough said.
You can get a day’s worth of news just by looking at the Trending Topics. It seems so natural for journalists to utilize Twitter. Twitter allows journalists to write about what matters to them, rather than what network bosses deem "newsworthy," (i.e. Paris Hilton leaving the jail, Mountain lions running amuck along on a freeway, celebrity surgical enhancements, etc.) and will attract viewer and generate mountains of moolah from advertising.
New media, user-generated social networking sites, and politics--we've come a long way. During the America's colonial period, isolating social unrest was too easy because you can only ride so fast on a horse. News, as the colonists had it, was often days, weeks, or months old. And now, Twitter is starting to make online news look slow.
Authoritarian states are intimidated by the site, fearing it spreads social unrest. Recent events in Iran, Honduras, and China prove this. Thus, the adage:
The tweet is mightier than the sword.
