About noon Pacific time yesterday, a 911 call was made from the mansion where Michael Jackson was living. Less than an hour later, news of his death was reported. Not by cable news channels, newspaper Web sites or the AP. The first news of the pop star's death came from the gossip Web site TMZ.
"With the death of pop star Michael Jackson," the Los Angeles Times reports, "TMZ gave the most potent demonstration yet of its ability to stir the pot of entertainment news."
Jackson was pronounced dead at 2:26 p.m. TMZ, owned and operated by Time Warner, reported the news 18 minutes later. Suspicious of TMZ after its past reporting, many news outlets instead used as a source the Los Angeles Times, which posted the news of Jackson's death at 2:51 p.m.
"The gossip site once again left TV networks and other traditional media outlets scrambling in its wake, even as they attempted to distance themselves from a source widely regarded as salacious, if not disreputable," wrote Scott Collins and Greg Braxton of the Times.
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