With the targeted killing of Osama Bin Laden, the Obama administration has not only achieved a long-awaited military victory. The report — announced by the president himself — should have been the biggest PR scoop of the decade. A few overzealous officials screwed it up for the President.
Barack Obama did not want to miss the opportunity to personally deliver the long-awaited news to the people: Special Navy Seal forces with combat helicopters had killed the leader of Al Qaeda in a targeted operation on Sunday. The surprise was perfect, at least in theory.
In practice, however, there are always a few government officials who, despite all strict secrecy, cannot help spreading the good news before the President. Be it to get on well with a few journalists, or to be in the limelight yourself for a few seconds.
At first, it was just a few tweets and a few texts to journalists, then all the dams quickly broke. Speculation rolled over every second on Twitter, Facebook and the online and broadcasting media. Obama himself was still writing his television speech when the Huffington Post had a big headline: DEAD!
- Media around the world report on the information disaster surrounding a mega PR scoop and a few government officials who were once again unable to shut up:
- Turning to Social Networks for News - New York Times
- Keith Urbahn beats them all - Neue Zürcher Zeitung
- Osama Bin Laden's Death Leaked via Twitter - Huffington Post
- How the Bin Laden Announcement Leaked Out - New York Times
- Bin Laden is dead - US President Barack Obama