Paula Abdul (Image from Twitter.)
It appears so. How we found out, though, may say more about what’s happened with media over the past few years — and how the change is unlikely to ever turn around — than anything it says about American Idol.
Paula Abdul announced, on Twitter tonight, that she will not be returning to American Idol next season.
I found out when Michael Buckley — of YouTube’s What the Buck? show — tweeted to his 85,000-plus followers at 10:37 p.m. that:
American Idol has lost its fun, its crazy, its heart! @paulaabdul No doubt the show will still be a ratings hit but its a big loss for show.
I, of course, clicked over to Abdul’s Twitter feed, where — sure enough — she 10 minutes earlier had tweeted: “With sadness in my heart, I’ve decided not to return to #IDOL. I’ll miss nurturing all the new talent, but most of all..Cont’d…” She went on, in the next tweet, to share a little spite with her more than 830,000 followers on Twitter, tweeting: “I’ll miss nurturing all the new talent,but most of all being a part of a show that I helped from day1become an international phenomenon.”
I sent out “retweets” of both of those stories at 10:42 p.m. and 10:53 p.m., as well as sending it to my Facebook feed.
It wasn’t until 11:16 p.m. that The New York Times had posted its Media Decoder blog post on Abdul’s departure from the show, which one of its co-authors, Brian Steltzer, tweeted at 11:37 p.m. The story’s news all came directly from the same tweets from Abdul that Buckley had noted an hour earlier and that I’d sent around a half-hour before the story was even posted.
The first story from The New York Times contained no more information than I was able to obtain on Twitter — and from the same sources. The New York Times took the “verified” status of Abdul’s Twitter account to allow them to report the story. They had no confirmation from Fox and no additional comment from Abdul.
True, Wednesday morning’s story in The Times — likely in both Los Angeles and New York — will likely contain many additional facts; quotes from industry folks; and analysis of whether anyone, with an “insider’s view,” still thinks this is just a negotiation ploy (though Fox’s eventual statement that “Paula will not be continuing with us” appears, at least, that both are playing hardball).
But, the concept of breaking news coverage, and what we expect from “traditional media” during breaking news situation, has changed. Just as important, the ability of people to bypass that traditional media when they want to do so is clear.
[UPDATE: Idol Host Ryan Seacrest, on Twitter after 1 a.m. Eastern, sums this post up quite well: "I have read what u have read and I am shocked and saddened about paula".
And, by 2 a.m., Michael Buckley had a special 3-minutes-plus "Paula Abdul QUITS AMERICAN IDOL!!!" video up. Enjoy Michael's freaking-out presentation of the news and trip down Abdul Memory Lane below the jump.]
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Chris Geidner is the senior political writer at D.C.'s Metro Weekly and has written for The Atlantic Online, Advocate.com, Salon and other publications, as well as at his blog, Law Dork. Prior to moving to D.C. in 2009, he served as an attorney on the senior staff at the Ohio Attorney General's Office and had earlier worked for a leading Columbus law firm. An extended biography can be found
I love Twitter and indeed notice a considerable delay between “Tweeted news” and what is available on CNN.com or other news sites. But seeing how CNN or other news networks sit and read Twitter feeds as though its news is unsettling to me.
Also, there’s very little difference of my knowledge at 8:30pm Tuesday or at 11am Wednesday of Abdul’s departure from American Idol.
I think that’s one of the things media has really lost sight of in these past years. I don’t need to know every detail of Michael Jackson’s kitchen nor do I need to know immediately about a tv show losing a cast member.
I’d gladly trade all of that for maybe some detailed coverage and anlysis of say, Cory Aquino’s legacy.