An end of year list by NowPublic.com shows how far user-generated content played a role in the big news events of the year. According to its CEO, Len Brody: 2008 not only proved the concept of user-generated news, but also tipped the scales. The pillars of mainstream media, including the Associated Press, BBC, CBS and CNN have all made significant efforts to embrace the new model. Top of the list

There has been plenty of discussion about the role of Twitter during the Mumbai attacks. The stream of tweets were seen by some as evidence that Twitter is where news is breaking. This poses a dilemma for established news organisations that traditionally have been the ones to break news.  But as Mindy McAdams notes, “breaking news — especially disasters and attacks in the middle of a city — will be

Following on from the attacks in Mumbai, Mindy McAdams has put together a short timeline of key events that have affected the development of online news. Among these are 9/11 attacks and the July 2005 bombings in London. Her list got me thinking about two key events in 1997 that had a big impact on the evolution of the web as an accepted platform for news. I was with the