Soon, links to the report spread across social media at a breakneck pace.
The speed at which the full page report was available -- speed made possible by the Internet -- meant that many readers were presented with a choice: read the report itself, journalists' analyses of the report or some combination of the two.
Many people around the world went with the first option, choosing to read the report and forego journalists' analyses of a primary source to which those journalists held no exclusive claim. Readers that opted for the unedited, non-editorialized report were met with 162 pages of emotionally jarring research into a sad and tragic series of events.
Definitely need a tin and a bottle of jamo after reading the Freeh report— Patrick McGuinness (@pat_mc_guinness) July 12, 2012
Reading about this Freeh Report makesme want to vomit— Brandon Burns (@BrandonB2592) July 12, 2012
Couldn't stomach reading more of what Sandusky did/what #PennState didn't do in the Freeh report. Those kids deserved better from Paterno— Neall Prashad (@neallp31) July 12, 2012
With Thursday morning's report, journalists' role as gatekeepers was throughly diminished, thanks to the Internet. Many media outlets released the full report alongside their own stories:
Read the full editorial Joe Paterno wrote before he died, in which he defends Penn State: usat.ly/N0yAGn— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) July 11, 2012
While others either predicted or responded to the Internet's speed of delivery and advertised their work as a sort of CliffsNotes:
If you're not reading the 10-chapter, 260+ #PSU #Freeh report, here's really what you need to know about JoePa bit.ly/POPY1a— Laura Keeley (@LauraHomeTeam) July 12, 2012
On Thursday morning, a major story broke -- but no single journalist or outlet held the attention of the nation or the world. Instead, all eyes were glued on a primary source -- the Freeh investigation -- thanks to the power of the Internet. What impact do you think the report's instant availability had? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Penn State employees read the #freehreport in the #paterno library on the penn state campus twitter.com/NabilKMark/sta…— Nabil K. Mark (@NabilKMark) July 12, 2012