When two bombs exploded at the finish line of the annual Boston Marathon on Monday, the country began searching for answers as to who was involved, how many were killed or injured, who was OK and how could this happen.
With so many information sources available to us today — online, print, mobile and otherwise — some of the most interesting media stories came out of the crossing of the two.
Also Read: How the Networks Are Covering the Boston Bombings
Here are eight compelling ways the media covered Monday's tragedy:
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The runner-reporters. Imagine this dedication to the job. We know of at least three reporters who were running the race and then turned around and reported on the bombings, including reporters from The New York Times' John Eligon, The Washington Post's Vernon Loeb and The Wall St. journal's Colleen McCain Nelson.
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Lots of baggage. Mary Pilon, a New York Times sports reporter, shared a very sobering photo of unclaimed marathon bags on Instagram. (see photo above)
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Lost and Found. Google has relaunched its People Finder for those who are looking for someone or those who have information on someone.
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Father of invention. Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley planned to live tweet his experience running the Boston marathon – only to find himself smack dab in the middle of the action with his famous location app recording all the mayhem from the mile 26 marker.
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Paced just right. What a difference five minutes makes. New Kids on the Block band member Joey McIntyre (who's from the area) tweeted a photo of himself with just five minutes to go before the finish. His next tweet: “There was an explosion by the finish line about 5 minutes after I finished- I'm ok but I'm sure there are many hurt." Close call.
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One of those days. All three broadcast networks extended their evening newscasts to one hour – the first time since the presidential inauguration in January and the Newtown shootings last December.
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So close, Savannah. Guthrie’s exclusive Barack Obama interview suddenly outdated. Just this morning, it was announced that Guthrie had landed an exclusive interview with the President, which was taped earlier Monday. And just like that, she and NBC have an outdated interview on their hands. By the way, remember when the same thing happened to Oprah Winfrey when Saddam Hussein was killed after she taped her sitdown with Obama in 2006.
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Search no longer. If the information from the tragedy has gotten a bit unwieldy, go to YouTube’s landing page for the tragedy. It brings together videos from several news outlets