Can traditional media beat new media in speed?

In the aftermath of the 2008 General Election in Malaysia, there has been tremendous interest about the impact of new media on the political scene.

As a mew media analyst, I've been invited to so many talks centered around the topic of new media.

In late April, I gave a talk at the Power of Web 2.0 forum.

This month, I gave two talks, one organized by the Asian Centre for Media Studies and the other by MCA Lifelong Learning.

One topic that often crops up is whether traditional media can keep up with new media when it comes to breaking news.

A sad event in the U.S., revolving around the death of U.S. journalist Tim Russert, has brought attention to this point as well.

Says new media guru Steve Outing:

"Of course, we live in an era in which big news holds for no network, and news crept out the door at NBC and was spread all over the Internet well before NBC acknowledged that Russert had a heart attack and died in its offices."