You likely have heard about US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's foot-in-mouth moment on Friday, but how did the reporters who broke it hear this unfortunate choice of phrase?

On a live news feed, streaming 1500 miles away.

The traveling press corps of about two-dozen journalists, photographers and camera operators who were traveling with the Clinton campaign in South Dakota on Friday, were not the reporters who broke the story - the story was broken by the New York Post, after hearing it in their own newsroom.

Last week Clinton, speaking to the editorial board of the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, defended her choice to stay in the primary campaign, arguing there was historical precedence of primary campaigns running into June. "We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California."

When Clinton made this statement, the reporters traveling with the campaign were on a bus, en route to Clinton's second appearance at a local supermarket.

Although they were watching the same stream, their internet connection was spotty - but the New York Post's wasn't. The original N.Y. Post read: "She is still in the presidential race, she said today, because historically, it makes no sense to quit, and added that, 'Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June,' making an odd comparison between the dead candidate and Barack Obama."

Within minutes of Clinton beginning her second appearance, Blackberries around the room began to go off, calls coming in from editors who had seen a Drudge Report link to the N.Y. Post article. The conversation of the day quickly shifted to her remarks at the Leader, and within two and a half hours, Clinton had made a statement expressing her regret.

In this case, perhaps more interesting than the politics of Clinton's statement are the changing politics of communication that the incident highlights.

Within minutes, Clinton, who thought she was speaking at a small event in South Dakota - one too small for even the traveling press to attend - was a sound bite around the country.

Source: The New York Times