THIS ANALYSIS OF COLUMBIA MEDIA COVERAGE — which I found through Romenesko, natch — mentions Bill Harwood, who used to edit my opeds at the University of Tennessee Daily Beacon. (“Your paragraphs are too long,” I remember him saying. I hope I’ve fixed that now. . . .) Here’s what it says:

Stern fans notwithstanding, at least this weekend belonged to the science guys and the space enthusiasts.

There was “CBS News” space consultant, Bill Harwood, who’s covered the comings and goings of the shuttle for at least 15 years, doing the kind of explanatory journalism that makes us all a little smarter while breaking the news that NASA’s suspicions were focused on the shuttle’s left wing.

I wish I’d seen that. I lost touch with Harwood years ago, but the last I heard he was covering Cape Canaveral for UPI. Then again, the story notes:

(It’s not Harwood’s fault, or even Rather’s, that CBS, which was the first of the Big Three to get its main anchor on the air Saturday morning, was also the first to ditch coverage, cutting away from a much-delayed NASA news conference to carry the Bob Hope Chrysler Golf Classic.)

Oh, well. Interestingly, though, it never occurs to me to turn to the Big Three when there’s breaking news: I generally alternate between CNN and Fox. I guess that’s because they never break to a golf tournament. Meanwhile this story from Mark Jurkowitz in the Boston Globe notes:

Yet, as often happens in today’s interconnected, high-tech universe, much of the reporting was done not by journalists, but by ordinary citizens: witnesses, video camera owners, and law-enforcement officials. In midafternoon, CBS interviewed Raymond Cervantes, a video camera ”hobbyist” who captured the shuttle’s breakup over Texas and described it as ”an unbelievable fireball.”

Thomas Kerss, the sheriff of Nacogdoches, Texas, told NBC what he knew about conditions on the ground where debris was landing. Throughout the day, on-the-scene observers provided insight and details.

I think that the network that manages to bring together this kind of reporting best will have a leg up on the others. Here’s a piece with tips for journalists on how to make use of the blogosphere.