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Temple Professor: Bin Laden Announcement A Victory For Old Media

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Maybe it looked like a social media moment, when Phillies fans began chanting "USA! USA!" during Sunday night's extra-innings game, as word spread of the death of Osama bin Laden.

But Temple Communications Professor Christopher Harper says, while it seemed that the crowd had gotten word of the SEAL raid from thin air, it was actually a new media echo of an old media bulletin: the President on TV.

"It think it had passed on from the president's announcement and people who were out and about, not watching television, got it through social media but, in fact, people immediately tuned in to watch television," Harper says. "See what was going on, get more information."

Professor Harper says it was TV's night, although he still says older media are "failing" under the onslaught of Twitter and Facebook, which incidentally is where he learned the news, after losing interest in the Phillies game.

Reported by John OStapkovich, KYW Newsradio 1060

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