Breaking news: TMZ beats the rest

For more than an hour,TMZ was essentially the only outlet claiming that Jackson was dead. Television and newspaper journalists read the TMZ report but largely held off on repeating it,for fear of making a mistake. Still,the bulletin traversed the web with remarkable speed,creating a stark divide: on the internet Jackson was dead,and on TV he was still alive.

By early evening Jacksons death had become the No. 1 story on newscasts worldwide. The intense,almost voyeuristic interest strained many Web servers,crashing AOLs instant messaging service and even tripping up Google News for about half an hour. Tens of millions of viewers watched hastily arranged tributes to Jackson on nearly a dozen channels.

But it was TMZ that consistently led the news cycle,beginning with a report that paramedics had been called to the mansion. Shortly thereafter,before any TV networks had mentioned Jackson,the site said he had suffered an episode of cardiac arrest. We are totally wired in this town, Harvey Levin,the sites editor-in-chief,said in a telephone interview on Friday.

The Jackson news was easily the biggest scoop in TMZs nearly four-year history. Kurt Andersen,a journalist and cultural critic,said the story was highly indicative of the evolving editorial practices that media outlets are grappling with. Among many journalists,theres still this residual but not yet vestigial instinct to think Oh,its just TMZ,lets wait for The Associated Press or The New York Times or The Los Angeles Times before we can say its true, he said,adding: I dont think in,say,five years,that will be the case.

The Jackson family said the time of death was 5:26 p.m. Eastern,several minutes after TMZs report,leading some to wonder whether the website looked accurate only in hindsight. Levin stood by the report,calling it 100 percent accurate.