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When did you first hear about Amy Winehouse’s death?
I was finally settling in to watch Due Date on DStv's new video-on-demand service called BoxOffice when I received an SMS from a friend. "Have you heard, Amy Winehouse is dead?"
It was just before 19:00 on Saturday evening.
By that time, Amy Winehouse hadn't even been dead for two hours. "Police were called by London Ambulance Service to an address in Camden Square shortly before 16:05 (17:05 SA time)," a police statement said. Scary stuff. We were receiving the news as it was unfolding.
10 minutes later, the story was live on News24, where thousands more read it.
In fact, I later saw Channel24 reported the story before Perez Hilton or TMZ; we even Facebooked it before Mashable could. The point I'm trying to make is not about how great we are at our jobs - although you have to admit those turnaround times are pretty impressive – but rather how scary it is that news is travelling so fast nowadays. It literally took less than two hours from when police in London received that call for the story to appear on the front page of a news site in South Africa.
Thereafter, the news updates about her death being 'unexplained', the autopsy being scheduled for Monday, friends speculating that it was a dodgy ecstasy pill that killed her, or even the news that her ex-husband Blake wasn't included in her will hit our shores as fast as it was revealed in London.
Social networks have completely changed the face of news. How did you hear about Amy's death? I bet you also found out about it on Facebook or Twitter or someone What’s Apped it to you.
However you received it, it's still terribly sad news.
May you rest in peace Amy Winehouse. You were one of the greatest musical talents of your generation.
'Til next week,
I was finally settling in to watch Due Date on DStv's new video-on-demand service called BoxOffice when I received an SMS from a friend. "Have you heard, Amy Winehouse is dead?"
It was just before 19:00 on Saturday evening.
By that time, Amy Winehouse hadn't even been dead for two hours. "Police were called by London Ambulance Service to an address in Camden Square shortly before 16:05 (17:05 SA time)," a police statement said. Scary stuff. We were receiving the news as it was unfolding.
10 minutes later, the story was live on News24, where thousands more read it.
In fact, I later saw Channel24 reported the story before Perez Hilton or TMZ; we even Facebooked it before Mashable could. The point I'm trying to make is not about how great we are at our jobs - although you have to admit those turnaround times are pretty impressive – but rather how scary it is that news is travelling so fast nowadays. It literally took less than two hours from when police in London received that call for the story to appear on the front page of a news site in South Africa.
Thereafter, the news updates about her death being 'unexplained', the autopsy being scheduled for Monday, friends speculating that it was a dodgy ecstasy pill that killed her, or even the news that her ex-husband Blake wasn't included in her will hit our shores as fast as it was revealed in London.
Social networks have completely changed the face of news. How did you hear about Amy's death? I bet you also found out about it on Facebook or Twitter or someone What’s Apped it to you.
However you received it, it's still terribly sad news.
May you rest in peace Amy Winehouse. You were one of the greatest musical talents of your generation.
'Til next week,
