News Spreads Like Fire
I started work experience yesterday at Hope 103.2. It was an absolutely fantastic day; I can see why people enjoy working there!
However, our school’s woodwork room caught fire today! It has been reported that the fire was in the Dust Extractor, and an investigation is taking place as to why it started. My guess is that it had not been cleaned out properly on a regular basis, but that isn’t for me to speculate on.
Luckily, no one was hurt. The whole school evacuated pretty quickly, which is to their credit.
However, it’s amazing at how fast news travels these days. The community really drives a lot of what is being published by the media. The Hills Shire Times had a story published (with an accompanying photo gallery) on the event by 1pm, and I heard the story being covered on the Fairfax radio news on both the 1pm and 2pm bulletins.
I’m pretty sure this story wouldn’t have been covered if technology isn’t what it is. Think about it: the news reporter probably wouldn’t had to of been at the school – a resident or student could have called the media, or the Fire Station sent through a media report to Fairfax who in turn published that.
The photo gallery probably would have been the doing of a resident who emailed them through from the convenience of their camera phone. (It wouldn’t have been a student because these shots are from the bus bay, and the school evacuates to the oval, which is on the other side of the school)
Of course, this is all just speculation, and I could be wrong on this particular issue. However, there is no doubt that this is how the media works for larger scale events – you see “viewer footage” on the television news all the time. The media is changing, and it is becoming increasingly community driven.