Comments on: Spaces of Speculation: How We Learned Osama Bin Laden Was Dead http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2011/05/02/spaces-of-speculation-how-we-learned-osama-bin-laden-was-dead/ Responses to Media and Culture Fri, 12 Feb 2016 19:35:04 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.5 By: Myles McNutt http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2011/05/02/spaces-of-speculation-how-we-learned-osama-bin-laden-was-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-83619 Mon, 02 May 2011 18:39:47 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=9229#comment-83619 Thanks for adding that link, Erin – it was on my to-do list!

I love the idea of someone inadvertently live-tweeting history, and it was fascinating to see the mainstream media pick up on his existence – I stumbled upon it late last night, and it was mainstream news this morning. Simply fascinating.

]]> By: Erin Copple Smith http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2011/05/02/spaces-of-speculation-how-we-learned-osama-bin-laden-was-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-83617 Mon, 02 May 2011 18:14:09 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=9229#comment-83617 Wonderful piece, Myles, thanks!

A student just told me about this story ( http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/sohaib-athar-unknowingly-live-tweets-raid-osama-bin/story?id=13506941 ) about one of Bin Laden’s neighbors tweeting about what was going on nearby without actually (of course) knowing what it was. Certainly seems to me to be an interesting piece of this puzzle–social media users have become de facto on-the-ground reporters, and often without realizing it. It’s eerie in hindsight.

]]> By: The Chutry Experiment » The Speed of Speculation http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2011/05/02/spaces-of-speculation-how-we-learned-osama-bin-laden-was-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-83603 Mon, 02 May 2011 16:09:00 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=9229#comment-83603 […] official announcement, a period that Myles McNutt has powerfully described as a “space of speculation.” McNutt observes that people were speculating about the news on Twitter, well before […]

]]> By: Myles McNutt http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2011/05/02/spaces-of-speculation-how-we-learned-osama-bin-laden-was-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-83585 Mon, 02 May 2011 12:52:05 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=9229#comment-83585 I think you raise an excellent point, Katie, regarding the potential efforts to narrativize this issue.

I honestly have no way of knowing how much of this was going on, although based on other reports it seems like CNN was definitely trying to play up the mystery of the event to keep people interested. It’s also possible that the producers in Viquiera’s ear were asking him to hold off because they wanted to build suspense.

But watching it in the moment, I would not have made the connection to the Birther issue. The choice to report “news” related to the Birther issue is as much about being starved for early 2012 campaign news as it is about the actual issue at hand, which I’d argue all networks but Fox News have never actually considered a legitimate story. There, I would argue we have the opposite of uncertainty: few doubted the President, and so they were probably more likely to report Trump’s behavior considering that it could eventually be clarified. Of course, that means risking the ugliness of it all becoming something close to fact, but that was a more calculated risk which they had time to respond to.

Seeing the decision whether or not to report the early reports actually play out through Viquiera demonstrated something far less calculated, an on-the-fly strategy of undetermined origin. We’ll likely be waiting for a more substantial glimpse into the media response in the months ahead, or Aaron Sorkin’s ripped-from-the-headlines storyline modeled off of this event should his new HBO show about a cable news network be picked up.

Some definite food for thought here.

]]> By: Katie http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2011/05/02/spaces-of-speculation-how-we-learned-osama-bin-laden-was-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-83582 Mon, 02 May 2011 12:27:36 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=9229#comment-83582 I find this account of television media’s caution regarding the announcement strange when juxtaposed to its recent (and historical over the past couple of years) complete lack of caution in reporting other events. Over the last couple of weeks we have seen this behavior in its fullest form as televised news sources gave voice to wild speculations on the birthplace of the president (the very president they seemed to give deference to for last night’s announcement). We could find myriad other examples of a lack of caution in televised reporting over the past few years and instances in which social media was taken quite seriously–whether warranted or not. So why then was this caution exhibited last night? I think it less likely that the television news producers were hesitant about reporting on social media sources and more likely that they felt that teasing their audiences made for more dramatic and compelling narrative. The incident with Viquiera is indicative of this. They were meting out little doses of information to keep the public interested.

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