The New Journalism?

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Death and the fear of it brings us together. Terror has a way of opening doors that had been closed in the humdrum routine of life togehter.

Perhaps the only thing worse than the threat of violent death is misinformation about its possibility. So when students at Virginia Tech, in fear of what early seemed to be multiple attackers on their campus, were confined, terrified and alone despite being together, they reached out. They used their phones, email, and their Facebook and Myspace pages. Are we surprised by this? We shouldn't be. It's not the tools that are important. It's what people were saying to each other.

Is what we saw happening between those students journalism? I don't think so. Was it communication? Of course. Will the journalism in the coming decades combine what we saw on that campus? Most definitely.