Now: Massive fire breaks out near central Paris train station

[Mike 03]

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

UNCONFIRMED reports it may have been started by protesters. Will update.

[Mike 03]

1. Alleged: Rioters prevent firefighters from putting out the flames?

Link to tweet

[Jirel]

2. Please, please, please stop getting news via tweet.

It's all hype, uninformed, and bad reporting.

Here's a real article about it:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/historic-paris-train-station-evacuated-due-to-nearby-fire/2020/02/28/16798fde-5a52-11ea-8efd-0f904bdd8057_story.html

Someone set fire to a scooter during a concert.

Several other vehicles caught fire.

There are no injuries.

[defacto7]

3. Thank you.

[Dennis Donovan]

4. Tweets are fine for news

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Jirel]

5. Sorry, that's plain wrong.

Reporters hate the pressure they are under to put something, anything, out on Twitter the minute they get on site. They have had no chance to verify anything. It's all dramatic photo, dubious witness statements, and conjecture.

Eventually, yes, they will write an actual story and post that on the feed. Usually it's a link to the story that appears in the newspaper/news site. It's almost always significantly different than what shows up in the "scoop" tweets.

Twitter is utter trash for getting the facts.

[Dennis Donovan]

6. To each his own