30 hours in and still no sign of the missing Flight MH370. With the latest findings about two passengers not being who they are as stated on the released passenger manifest, as they both are using stolen passports, the rumour-mill ran into overtime last night with new conspiracy theories and the like. Thankfully, many Malaysians and the world at large are now less likely to play up such ideas as everyone is hoping and praying for search and rescue efforts to find the aircraft with its passengers and crew safe and sound. Twitter hashtags #PrayforMH370 and #MH370 are now trending in TwitterJaya (as well as in Singapore and the Philippines) with outpourings of prayer, hope, and sharing of active tracking news feeds.
As many countries involved in the search have increased the number of navy vessels and military aircraft in the search for Flight MH370 this morning, it became clear that they – having just recently been in a war-of-words over maritime issues – have put aside political interests and national boundaries as they come together to render aid in finding the missing passenger aircraft.
Even as social media became a source of confusion and pain for this incident initially, hampering news-rooms to do their utter best, the same platform – and the Internet at large – has also become an immediate source of information for any new proper information that authorities and official news channels have revealed and uncovered respectively. After the panic that had gripped the world yesterday tapered off, clarity and unity have come to the fore among netizens as they post and retweet about/for legit sources, accurate information, and calm among the chaos.
TV-based news networks are now broadcasting and recycling information about Flight MH370 as well as arrange for interviews with flight control and aviation experts, experience pilots, search and rescue management, and ambassadors in key countries in their efforts to keep track of any new developments coming from Sepang, Beijing or MAS. The same can be said of the channels based on the Web though they try to paint a clearer picture and piece together a properly flowing narrative. Technology at its finest (and worst)!
In the latter’s case, Yahoo! Malaysia is doing a great job of being a command centre for the latest information on Flight MH370 as the local news team compile, chart, track, and write on anything they can get their hands on about the current situation. In fact, this is a comprehensive, and the most complete, timeline and listing of the stories/leads on the missing MAS aircraft. Kudos to the Yahoo! MY team for the continued effort for the best coverage thus far.
