Real-time news coverage also means that it is more important than ever to frame news events in their proper context. Several recent examples have revealed the confusion that stems from failing to obey one of the core principles of journalism. Television footage of a minority of Palestinians celebrating after the September 11 attacks was aired widely around the world. But that footage was often broadcast without commentary or any attempt to place it in the broader context of the Islamic world, which widely condemned the attacks.

The raw process of news gathering and the confusion that sometimes accompanies it have also been laid bare to the public at large. In the moments following the US Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Bush v. Gore, which decided the 2000 US presidential election, correspondents rushed down the steps of the Supreme Court building gasping for breath and trying to decipher complex legal rulings live on the air. Needless to say, the commentary was not entirely coherent, and it took nearly half an hour for the true picture to emerge.

At what point, then, does instant reporting turn into entertainment and a behind-the-scenes glimpse of life as a journalist? The rush and competition to be the first to deliver the definitive news led major US networks into the debacle of presidential election night, when the results of the Bush-Gore race were declared prematurely.

In the fog of September 11, news reports had the Capitol building in Washington struck by an airplane and a car bomb exploding at the US State Department. Both reports were false. Of course, in the chaos and drama of that day, anything was possible. But it is clear that in the world of instant news, media organizations must be more vigilant than ever in ensuring accuracy, objectivity, and freedom from bias. That is the one thing that technology has not affected: the core principles of good journalism.