Interesting to compare today’s online coverage of today’s May 24 races, arguably the first to be covered extensively via social media.
The Bermuda Sun outdid everyone for minute-by-minute coverage with its excellent Twitter and Facebook feeds that kept us rain-soaked spectators up to date on the progress of the lead runners throughout the morning.
Bernews kept up a live blog during the race and had photos and reports of both the Marathon Derby and the Sinclair Packwood Cycle Race up almost immediately and long before anyone else. Bermuda Wired carried streaming audio of ZBM’s live radio coverage.
But if you looked at The Royal Gazette or Bermuda Network News sites, you wouldn’t have know the event had taken place. Even by 11.30 a.m. when both races were long over, neither site had so much as a headline and had mentioned nothing on their FB or Twitter feeds. In fact, BNN doesn’t even have a Sports section.
In fact, the much-hyped, Ewart-backed BNN is so far proving something of a disappointment. Bar its exclusive shots of Collie Buddz’ wedding, there has been little of note on the site since it launched last week and its updates are sporadic at best – not quite the cutting edge of 24-7 news technology that Government MPs shamelessly pitched it as in the House last week.
Its Government connections indicate that it will get official “news” ahead of anyone else but it will be interesting to see how it fares against its rivals in covering hard news. Bizarrely it led its Top Stories section the other day with a report on stolen global art. Go figure.
Meanwhile, here’s a selection of my shots from today’s Marathon Derby near Breezeblog’s world headquarters on Harbour Road, where the rain clearly failed to dampen the spirits of race fans:
Breezeblog 