Boston Stations Utilize Social Media to Report on Plane Collision at Logan Airport

By Andrew Gauthier 

Boston stations didn’t break into primetime programming last night to report on a plane collision at Logan International Airport but there was no shortage of coverage online as WCVB, WBZ, WHDH, and WFXT used their Twitter and Facebook accounts to update local viewers on the breaking news.

Social media proved to be an ideal platform for the news since details of the collision, involving a Delta jet and a smaller plane, emerged bit by bit and images were scarce. All four stations tweeted a breaking news update around 8:00 p.m. last night and then used Twitter and Facebook to gradually flesh out the story.

Advertisement

While WBZ and WFXT urged their followers to share photos of the scene at Logan, WCVB and WBZ were able to post some of the first images of the damaged planes, which were snapped by members of their news teams. WCVB tweeted out a photo taken by reporter Mary Saladna as well as one from a local spotter while WHDH shared a close up shot of a clipped wing from anchor-reporter Ryan Schulteis.

Twitter and Facebook also allowed the stations to constantly update their stories as more details emerged through the evening. WBZ originally reported on Facebook that a 747 jet had collided with a smaller plane but an astute follower corrected the post by pointing out that Delta only flies 767s out of Logan. WFXT initially tweeted that it was a US Airways 767 but then quickly posted a correction, clarifying that it was in fact a Delta plane.

By the time the stations’ late newscasts rolled around, the story wasn’t exactly old news–it had just been given time to mature online.

>Update: A previous version of this post credited Scott McFarlane as WCVB executive producer when in fact he is a local spotter. (Scott Isaacs, the real executive producer, had posted McFarlane’s photo to his yfrog account to share).

Advertisement