TV Beats Web for Michael Jackson Mourners?

Many first heard of his passing online, then rushed to their favorite 24-hour news station. Does that equal a “win” for television in the media battle?

From ClickZ.com:

In this post-Michael Jackson era, the media onslaught borne from Jackson’s demise is one that deserves the intense picking over it has received. First is the notion that the news itself was broken by a blog (tmz.com), which is good for digital media’s future. Then there are the curious and still not necessarily authenticated stories as to how Jackson’s death very nearly broke the Internet, which may be not so good for digital media’s future.

Perhaps more interesting to those in the online world, Jackson’s death suggests how radically the consumption paradigm has shifted. A not-so-random survey of friends and colleagues showed that most people discovered the news through Facebook or Twitter, despite the fact that the break-it-down-so-you-can-mourn-effectively coverage emanated from television at the same time. So though you heard about it online, you turned to the tube for your “real” news. Score one for TV.