The shooting that occurred Thursday night at a midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado has reportedly led to 12 deaths and over 50 wounded. With hundreds in the theater, many of the movie goers were blindsided by an apparent smoke bomb that first went off before the shooting began. The continuing investigation has spotlighted James Holmes, a neuroscience PhD candidate at the University of Colorado, as a suspect. He is currently in custody and is due in court on Monday.
Of the many consequences of this horrifying event, the discussion of how technology and its massive role in reporting the national story has also surfaced. Many have described this massacre as one of the most well documented tragedies in American history. Even a few of the victims in the theater had their phones with them and recorded video while the scene unfolded.
Essentially from the minute the shooting occurred, people have been utilizing mainstream media to present as much news as possible on the shooting. Of the Twitter streams and Facebook discussions occurring, Reddit rose to be one of the primary sources of news on the event. One Redditor, integ3r, was among the first to report on the story and remains as a main news provider on the happenings surrounding the event. Integ3r's updates include a three part comprehensive timeline on the Aurora shooting with extensive minute-by-minute summaries and links for more information. Victims of the shooting are even giving first hand accounts on the website. Although not typically high brow in nature, Reddit has successfully been providing clear and effective reports. Screenshot of Reddit.com
The combined effort of reporting that has led to a social media site being utilized more for information than established news sources has not only created a resulting story in itself but has brought to light the undeniable effects of the de-verticalization of popular news sources.