This was especially true during the Virgina Tech shooting. Some FReepers were way ahead of the media, reporting what was going on as it was happening. While CNN was reporting two people dead, acting as if it was over, FReepers were reporting more shots fired, requests for additional ambulances and hospitals diverting rescue workers to other hospitals because they were at capacity. Some people were in my office that morning talking about the two people being shot after reading cnn.com, and I was reading FR telling them it was much worse than that and it wasn't over. They were skeptical of me because I was reading it from a discussion board, but they had never heard of FR. An hour or so later they finally read on CNN.com what I told them from FR much earlier.
Hopefully you educated your peers.
Two people were shot. It happened earlier in the morning. The media has the same access to information that we had which was the internet with online police scanners and forums. But the media just decided not to use it.
9/11 was a better example because freepers were close enough to get a birds eye view.
In the William Morva case at the start of the school year, we were so close to the action that we were debating whether our windows were bulletproof.
Good example. Freepers are everywhere! Even Baghdad.