As news of inconclusive plane debris from MH370 broke just before midnight, reporters had to scramble and tear themselves away from their regular lives to cover an Australian news conference.
Among them was Al Jazeera America‘s Jared Keller, who was out drinking with friends.
And then he went on Twitter.
To be clear, Keller wasn’t blind drunk, at which point someone should locked up his computer with a chain and tied his hands and mouth with duct tape so he can’t use even his cell phone or Siri. But, as he put it, he’d been drinking just “a little,” and lamented news getting in the way of his evening, saying, “For once I would like a night where I don’t have to duck away from my friends for news. Just once.” You know, to the point where he asked his followers to gouge his eyes out with a “nice cream scoop” if he ever has to live tweet a press conference from his phone again. Hayes Brown, a national security blogger at Think Progress, had some fun razzing him.
Ultimately, Keller issued a semi-formal correction: “Ice cream scoop. I’m going to bed.”
Watch how it all played out.
The Mirror sought comment from Keller, who reasoned, “It’s hard to tweet quickly from a cell phone. I was doing all of the news off my phone.”