The online reaction to the rebellion in Libya has been huge; and even if you don't follow him on Twitter, you will probably have heard about Andy Carvin's record total of 1,200 tweets over the weekend, documenting both the Libya situation and the earthquake on the East Coast of the U.S.A.

Tweets from officials and from foreign correspondents have all been standard components of many live blogs, helping to keep people all over the globe informed.

Yet again, social media has proved essential in forming both journalists' and the public's understanding of a dramatic and rapidly unfolding political situation.

In recognition of the power of social media, Al Jazeera has now decided to dedicate large amounts of airtime to news brought directly and exclusively from Twitter, according to The International Journalists Network.

Jonathan Stray from the Nieman Journalism Lab recently conducted an analysis of the amount of original news content found in news articles through Google. In conducting the analysis, Stray took a major headlining article in the news and then tracked how many articles pertaining to the subject contained original content.

The results of the analysis were surprising. Stray examined 121 different articles covering the announcement that students in a Chinese university had hacked into American computers, finding that only 13 or 11% had some original content.

Of the 13 "original" stories, Stray noted that 8 came from traditional paper-based media outlets. All the other articles published lacked original content but nonetheless provided in-depth articles concerning the same story in a different way.

The results of his analysis led to Stray to ask "What were those other 100 reporters doing?" One must question how effective it is for news outlets to produce essentially their version of the same thing. Many argue that a multitude of voices on one subject is the most effective way at revealing the truth, but these findings suggest that time, energy, and more importantly money are being wasted for no reason.

Many journalists have been denied visas for Iran in the lead-up to the Islamic Revolution anniversary celebrations, and those in Iran have been told not to report on opposition protests, The Guardian reports.

The internet and phones have been interfered with and the few foreign correspondents in Iran operate under tight restrictions. Although the Iranian government says that over 200 foreign journalists have been approved to cover the event, this consisted of government minders escorting them to the official rally at Tehran's Azadi square. Exiled Iranian journalists warned their colleagues not to go.
Sixty-five Iranian journalists are in detention, according to Reporters Without Borders, and Iran has become the leading jailer of journalists in the world, according to the International Press Institute (IPI).

Official media in Iran have not offered a wide angle on the story, The Guardian says, citing a report on English-language Press TV: "Every year I tell you that it's very glamorous, it's very exciting, it's very impressive," said correspondent Gisoo Ahmadi.

More local news comes from newspapers and their websites than from television, radio or online-only news sources, ABC News reports.

A study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism looked at one week of local news reporting across 53 media outlets in Baltimore during July last year. It found that for six major stories, 61% of original reporting or new information came from newspapers and their websites. By contrast, 28% came from local television stations and their websites, 7% for radio stations and 4% for online-only publications.

Although local television produced slightly more content than newspapers, fewer of the stations' stories contained original reporting. Content often included information obtained from other media, primarily newspapers.

"This study does suggest that if newspapers were to disappear, what would be left to aggregate?" director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism Tom Rosenstiel said.

It's not all rosy for newspapers, though. Falling advertising revenue and staff cuts over the last decade have meant that local newspapers aren't covering stories in as much depth or producing as much content as they did in the days before online news, according to the study.