91Èȱ¬

I was at a conference at the weekend where someone asked me to define 'News'. I hate it when people do that. It's just possible they may have detected through my coughing and spluttering that the definition can be a bit vague.

I'm currently looking at the output of 91Èȱ¬ World and CNN and wondering to myself: Is this news? You see there's . The pictures are spectacular. We've been using them almost non-stop for about 90 minutes now. But the fire seems to have been caused by an electrical fault. And it's in the cargo terminal. And there are no reported casualties.

So is it news?

Well yes, it is. It's a particularly large fire, and it is at a well-known international airport. For quite a long time we didn't know whether the cause could have been more troubling. We're a visual medium, and the images are incredibly strong. Thanks to the user-generated hub in News Interactive, we're getting first-hand reports from passengers at the airport (the eye-witness we just spoke to sent an email to the 91Èȱ¬ using his Blackberry).

But it's probably not news for much longer. It will make a strong package for the rest of the day, but I doubt the live coverage will sustain for very long. And CNN appear to think the same thing, since as I write we've both moved on to other stories. Not that we ever watch each other to see what's happening. Oh no.