At 10:25 p.m. Sunday, Keith Urbahn, chief of staff to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfield, tweeted the following 15 words:
“So I’m told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn.”
It was a peculiar claim that further validated percolating rumors from far less official sources. And amid a flurry of ambivalent-but-not-wanting-to-miss-that-magical-moment-of-affirmation retweets, it was also 100 percent true.
Of course, Urbahn’s momentous tweet will be forever enshrined in the academic glow of convergent media – a kind of definitive case study of the less-than-glamorous intersection of citizen journalism and anonymous sourcing. It’s the type of social media narrative that will undoubtedly arouse journalism professors and industry observers for news cycles to come.
They will sternly rise to the lectern and rap a clenched fist on the chalkboard and declare this – this right here – is why that pesky microblogging platform has news value beyond your trivial breakfast choices.
And why shouldn’t they tout Urbahn’s Tweet Heard ‘Round the World as a gorgeous microcosm of broader-picture Journalism Two-Point-Whatever? The New York Times later credited him with mobilizing the political press army with his 77-character declaration. And then Congressional staffers started trembling under the sheer jubilance of the impending announcement, winking and nodding at eager reporters.
When President Barack Obama finally glided to that microphone, everyone beamed inwardly like stumbling upon the sundae toppings in Grandma’s fridge before she even serves the roast beef dinner.
The spoiler alert was not that Osama Bin Laden was dead. It was that the American public already knew Osama Bin Laden was dead. And the chief of staff to the architect of the wildly unpopular Iraq War – arguably a political postscript to 9/11 – ruined it for everyone.
Less than 24 hours later, Urbahn recoiled at pundits’ speculation that he rendered initial and official reports irrelevant. “As much as I believe in rise of ‘citizen journalism,’ blogs, twitter etc supplanting traditional media, my tweet isn’t great evidence of it.” he said in a string of two consecutive tweets. “Stories about ‘the death of MSM’ because of my ‘first’ tweet are greatly exaggerated.”
His Mark Twain reference is incredibly accurate. Although one could argue he vastly undermined the mainstream media – or lamestream media, depending on which side of Sarah Palin’s dinner table you find yourself – there’s no denying the Bin Laden story was carefully crafted by the guys who do this for a living, pencils behind ears, boots on the pavement. Urbahn’s tweet was merely a starting point upon which a tremendous news germ was vividly compounded.
If we are going to be genuinely evaluative of Urbahn’s impact, why not chalk it up as a modest win-win? His speculative dispatch further legitimized Twitter as a viable journalistic tool and engaged captive audiences with a viral ferocity.
But is this latest bout of 140 Characters v. The State of Reportage emblematic of a more profound breakthrough? Don’t knock on the chalkboard just yet. I still care about your cereal.
Patrick Svitek isa Medill freshman and DAILY staffer. He can be reached at [email protected] and followed at twitter.com/Medill_Svitek.
