Late on Sunday night, Wolf Blitzer, the news anchor on CNN, was visibly struggling not to tell his 9m viewers something a lot of them already knew or suspected – that Osama bin Laden was dead. The rumour broke out on Twitter at 10.25pm but it was only 20 minutes later that he reported the fact.
The anchor, a venerable figure since the days of Walter Cronkite, used to be a symbol of authority whom the audience trusted to tell the truth at the right time, but Mr Blitzer merely looked absurd. His unwillingness to report a rumour before it had been checked out – the stance of traditional news organisations – meant that CNN had to trail behind its own viewers.
News has become faster and looser, as illustrated by the stream of facts, insight, rumours and propaganda that surged across news and social networks from the moment the White House announced that President Barack Obama would address the nation. It is becoming harder and more awkward for news providers to adhere to the old safeguards when they no longer dominate distribution.