While celebrating the heroic actions of first responders, reporters covering the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas are witnessing the shock of some 40,000 people for whom the base was a refuge from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where many served. read more »

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) learned several practices about covering breaking news after receiving a phone call by a suspected hostage-taker during the 10-hour ordeal, Executive Editor Esther Enkin says. read more »

Clashes between rival gangs in a Rio de Janeiro favela left at least 21 dead and a police helicopter and eight buses destroyed, The Associated Press and O Globo report. The sudden spike in violence, the city's worst recent oubreak, drew independent and de facto citizen journalists to the scene. Some examples: read more »

Investigators are exploring whether some media outlets may have known that the story about a little boy floating away in a balloon was a hoax, CBS News reports, quoting a Colorado sheriff. read more »

Here’s how the Los Angeles Times described the saga of a 6-year-old boy believed to be inside a helium-filled balloon soaring over Colorado:

“As the story unfolded, it seemed tailored for the current age, complete with a nod to reality TV, lots of chatter in the blogosphere and even a hint of scandal as questions were raised about whether the whole thing had been a hoax.” read more »

When a major figure dies, journalists rely on one core question to keep fueling the story after the first day—a question like "who killed Michael Jackson?", The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz says. But in the case of Sen. Ted Kennedy, the obvious question—who will carry forward the family legacy?—has a fairly boring answer: no one, he says. read more »

The Boston Globe had already printed and shipped its two first editions when news broke Wednesday at 1:25 a.m. that Sen. Edward Kennedy had died of brain cancer. But the paper stopped its presses five minutes later to change the front page and several inside pages, Editor & Publisher reports. read more »

On a day when the media was already consumed with the death of Farrah Fawcett, the sudden passing of Michael Jackson made journalists scramble, especially the TV networks, the Los Angeles Times and Entertainment Weekly report. read more »

Like every serious journalist, MarketWatch’s Jon Friedman loves beating his rivals to the news. But he wonders, how much scoops matter in the Internet-dominated world. read more »

One of the most iconic photos of the “miracle on the Hudson” was taken by an iPhone and first seen by tens of thousands on the Twitter microblogging site, the New York Daily News reports. read more »

Bloggers across Mumbai fed live updates of the terrorist attacks, highlighting the social media’s new expanding role in news coverage, Melanie Lee reports for Reuters. read more »