The end of Twitter as a source of news

Nothing in recent memory has made me feel better about newspapers than Twitter's reporting of Osama bin Laden's death.

Like much of the world, I learned of bin Laden's death on Twitter, and that initial excitement carried the thrill of a whispered rumor. But that's all it carried. It took me about thirty seconds to realize that nothing I wanted to know about his death — its consequences and ramifications, primarily, but also its circumstances and, secondarily, the reactions in the U.S. of people most affected by the 9/11 attacks — could or would ever be available on Twitter in a form useful to me.

For that I'll have to turn to newspapers, magazines (television, too, I suppose) and their online imitators. So, while social media may be a useful canary in a coal mine for news organizations and for the reading, listening and watching public, they're nothing more than starting points for news. If Twitter offers news, I want something else. I want the story.

***

I am reading or have just read two novels from the 1970s that turn at least in part on disillusionment with the degree to which life has become a big spectacle. One is J.G. Ballard's Crash, and the other is Fatale by Jean-Patrick Manchette, newly available in English translation  from New York Review of Books (and including a blurb from Philadelphia's own Duane Swierczynski).

I thought of both as I read an article in my newspaper about Twitter and bin Laden's death that quotes a social news editor of the Huffington Post thus:

“At one time, they all would have had to go the White House or ground zero or a baseball game. But now people could stay at their houses and be part of this outpouring of emotion and the conversation.”

Ballard would have shuddered — if he didn't laugh his ass off.

***

Just had a chat with two colleagues about the bogus Martin Luther King quotation. Back when Twitter was taken seriously, we would have had to exchange Tweets. But now we could gather together, for real, in person, and talk about how the entire world has been suckered by social media.

© Peter Rozovsky 2011

Nesbø on news

The profession of which I am a part has cropped up twice this weekend in my crime reading. First, Dan Waddell writes about the excesses of English tabloids and the non-action of Home Secretary Jack Straw in a notorious real-life murder case. (Jack Straw used to be my favorite political name until Philadelphia elected Michael Nutter mayor.)

Then Jo Nesbø's The Snowman offers an amusing swipe at newspapers' moral pretensions and a more probing examination of television. Here's the first, as reporters besiege Oslo police headquarters

"Mumbling among themselves that the police had to acknowledge their responsibility to keep the general public informed about such a serious, shocking and circulation-increasing matter."

Later Nesbø has protagonist Harry Hole appear on Norway's leading talk show to discuss the killer and turn the show into something like Harvey Pekar's appearances with David Letterman. That television manipulates truth and reduces everything to entertainment and morally neutral "content" goes without saying, though Nesbø says it well. What I like best, though, is that he captures that ghastly attraction of the insidious medium.

"`Jesus,' she heard the producer wheeze behind her. And then, `Jesus bloody Christ.' Oda just felt like howling. Howling with pleasure. Here, she thought. Here at the North Pole. We aren't where it happens. We are what happens."

© Peter Rozovsky 2010

An honorable mention

Detectives Beyond Borders has made it onto Library Journal's list of Eight Top Mystery Blogs with an asterisk. I'm not one of the eight, but I'm pleased to rate an "also check out ... " behind the estimable Euro Crime.

It's a good list, a balance among reference, news, author and review sites. This blog is in good company.

Grab your Italian dictionaries ...

... and get ready to read Il Falcone Maltese, an Italian magazine about crime and noir fiction, movies and television. The on-line version contains introductions to a wide variety of articles, news, interviews and reviews on crime and mystery Italian and foreign, past and present, current and classic: Gianrico Carofiglio and Orhan Pamuk, to name two in the current issue. For full texts of all the articles, you'll have to subscribe or visit Italy.

© Peter Rozovsky 2006

Technorati tags:
Italian crime fiction

New Australian crime fiction

Crime Down Under's What's New section offers capsule descriptions of new Australian crime fiction -- a good holiday shopping guide.

Technorati tags:
Australian crime fiction

Good Reading from Australia

The Australian Crime Fiction Forum has a link to Good Reading -- the Magazine for Book Lovers, published in print and online versions -- a "great magazine and a useful site for those interested in the Australian book marketplace," according to Karen, who maintains the Australian Crime Fiction site.

A quick glance at Good Reading's contents and archives turned up a long list that included Robert Wilson on why he sets novels in Portugal and Spain, and a series about famous characters that included selections on Dr. Watson and Modesty Blaise. That's an intriguing mix and one that looks well worth exploring.

Technorati tags:
Australian crime fiction

A fine source for news and reviews of crime fiction

The Euro Crime Web site's news section has links to news, views, interviews and lots and lots of reviews from newspapers in Europe and North America. It looks like a great place to browse, to find new books and authors, and to find gifts as that special time of year approaches.

An Italian writer ...

... sends notice of Giallografia, an online crime-fiction magazine. Contents are mostly Italian, though the home page links to an English version of the author's Twenty rules for writing a detective novel, a "modern re-write" of S.S. Van Dine's twenty rules. Visitors to the site will notice lots of yellow, and there's a reason for that: giallo is the Italian word for yellow -- and also the term for crime writing. A crime writer is a giallista in Italian.

An International Literature Site With Some Crime Fiction

Words Without Borders, The Online Magazine for International Literature (no relation) is packed with fiction, poetry, non-fiction and reviews from around the world, including some crime fiction.

Manuel Vazquez Montalban

The Barcelona Review has a fine retrospective on Manuel Vazquez Montalban in its archives from 2004. The current issue includes Ken Bruen's story "Loaded," so you know this e-zine is worth a look.