Whit Andrews

When you heard something was up about Sarah Palin, what did you do? Did you turn on the TV? Did you click to a newspaper Web site? Did you call a friend? I saw a friend’s tweet and did a hashtag search on Sara Palin. I used to work at a newspaper; I counted success one morning because I sat in a street and waited for the accelerant-sniffing dog to come in on a chopper out of Detroit, and when the dog went crazy, I called the office on a payphone and said “The dog went crazy at the front and back door — I gotta stay and get the story.” (We never said, “scoop.”) They let me stay, and the next morning we beat them and even those other guys.

And today, I searched on a hashtag, not because I needed the information instantly (well, maybe I did?) but because it was the easiest thing to do. The first tweet kicked me to CNN. Which I rely on for some news. Even though I don’t own a TV.

What an extraordinary world.