Bob Mayo posted an interesting answer to my question on the coverage of the BRESMA situation over on his blog, The Busman’s Holiday.  I’m posting my question and excerpts of his answer below.  His answer implies, to me, that the primary reasons main stream media stayed away from giving credit to the social media is not sinister at all.  It’s not that politicians asked them to let them claim all the glory.  It’s not that the mainstream media prefers not to allow the social media any coverage.  It’s simply that the main stream media was unaware of what happened behind the scenes in the Burghosphere.

Burgher Jon said…

I had noted the lack of any mention nationally or locally of MBB, Virginia or Bram. Do you have any speculation why they would be left out?

Was the effort of the governor truly seperate? The result of a call for help directly from the McCultrie’s to the governor?

Bob Mayo said…

Burgher Jon, I can’t speak for other reporters, but I know that by necessity my TV stories on Monday focused on the breaking news of the flight and it’s status, not the back story of the efforts of the previous days.

I quoted Mary Beth Buchanan’s statement — which Bram e-mailed on her behalf — in the live close to my 6pm story on Monday. Earlier that day, I’d tried to arrange to interview Buchanan, e-mailing her that morning. She e-mailed back that she would call me shortly but she didn’t do so, despite my followup attempt to reach her. Her written statement to all media followed later in the afternoon.

…

I think the statement from the McMutrie family that Virginia released on their behalf late last night addresses their view of the dovetailing of efforts on their behalf. I hope this answers your questions. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

Bob

Let me tell you what I have learned from this little episode.  I learned that most reporters are well-intentioned people with degrees in journalism or PR from great universities.  These reporters (for logical reasons) are most comfortable getting their facts from publicists (with degrees in journalism or PR from great universities) working for various organizations, politicians and sports teams.  This necessarily limits their stories and gives them a certain tint.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Most bloggers don’t have access to the PR people from the organizations, politicians and sports teams and this lack of access limits their posts and gives them a certain tint.

This gap does raise a logical question though.  Wouldn’t it be ideal if there was a “reporter of the future” who had access to both the polished messages supplied by PR people and the raw opinions and “on the street” sentiments that bloggers produce.  I can think of 3 such reporters of the future, and I encourage you to follow all of them:

1. Bob Mayo – Yes, he’s a reporter on WTAE, but as I already mentioned he’s a blogger too.   He also follows many of the blogs (and bloggers on Twitter) that contribute to the Burghosphere.  This allows his news reports to be informed by the Burghosphere and his blog posts to be informed by research he’s done for WTAE.
2. Dejan Kovacevic – Dejan is the Post-Gazette beat writer for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  He also runs a blog hosted on the Post-Gazette’s website.  On the blog he does things that he can’t in his daily Post-Gazette posts.  He shows personal photographs that he took at practice.  He mentions his opinions.  He talks about the informal feedback he’s getting through questions and comments.  He links to other Pirates’ blogs not supported by MSM.
3. Bram Reichbaum – Unfortunately the Pittsburgh Comet is winding down, but its still worth mentioning.  Bram got his start not as MSM, but as a blogger.  Thanks to a flexible work schedule and a good reputation though, he was able to do many of the functions of a reporter.  He interviewed political candidates, got press credentials to important events and had access to publicists.  This allowed him to inform his blog posts, with information traditionally reserved for MSM reporters.

Update (a slight restating):  I got a little note from Bob Mayo on twitter in response to this.  It made me a little concerned I’ve left the wrong impression.  I only meant to imply that the MSM (based on the coverage I’ve read) was largely unaware of the behind the scenes things that took place in the Burghosphere (mostly the actions of Virginia and Bram).  This is apparent when a Google News search of “BRESMA Virginia” returns only blog posts.  It has nothing to do with the coverage that occurred or didn’t while the plane was in the air.  I then wanted to make a further point that Bram, Bob Mayo, Dejan Kovacevik, and possibly Virginia Montanez have the unique position of having reporter like access and burghosphere mainlines.  Having both gives an interesting perspective that is worth reading (or in Bob’s case, watching).