Phooh. What a day yesterday. I got in late last night (travelled all the way to very south southeast London to see a recording of the new Adam Buxton comedy, only to be turned away because of oversubscription. Cheers) and, during my mandatory email and facebook check before nigh nighs, I saw Mof’s status update saying that Steven Wells, one of my favourite music journalists during my formative years, and Farrah Fawcett, a true TV icon, had died. In the same day. Really, really sad. Both to cancer too. Shocking. But then… but then. I read the news that Michael Jackson had been rushed to hospital and, on the BBC website, they were streaming live footage from outside the actual hospital. This was serious, so I switched onto the news and stayed glued for the next hour and a half.

Reviewing the footage from this fateful night might seem a little insensitive, but I couldn’t go without passing comment on it all. Not Jackson’s death itself, but the actual coverage from both BBC News and Sky News, who I was flitting between.

Everyone I’ve spoken to this morning were either awake and saw the news when it broke or were woken up by a text or a phone call and urged to switch the TV on immediately. It’s safe to say that the death of Michael Jackson, a true cultural icon and loved by many, was a full-on multi-media event. People were tuning into the news channel primarily to hear confirmation of the worst, his hardcore fans hoping and praying that this was just an awful hoax.

We all now know it wasn’t a hoax, but the getting to the confirmation was edge-of-your seat stuff and a fairly gruelling ride. That’s what the rolling news channels do – they keep repeating things, repetition, repetition, repitition, to the point where you can’t stand it any more, and the merest slither of new news (even if it’s just a single line of newness) causes a massive release of tension. And then it’s back to the repetition and the ramping up of stress again.

Take last night. The BBC had a correspondent in a studio in LA and a separate box with pictures live from above the UCLA hospital. Peter Bowes, poor Peter Bowes, he was just repeating that a report on the tmz website, a relaible source no less, had reported that Michael Jackson was dead and that everyone – you, them, me – were waiting for confirmation.

Five minutes later? So, Peter Bowes, can you tell us exactly where we are with this and if there is any new information? Well, the tmz website has…

An interview with an LA-based journalist followed and… so Peter Bowes, can you tell us the latest? Well, the tmz website…

So that was poor Peter Bowes. Then it was poor Uri Gellar, first on BBC news, saying that Jacko was in good shape and he was looking forward to doing his tour in August. He refused to comment when the last time he spoke to Jackson, which I thought was a bit weird.

So Peter Bowes… well tmz…

Then 11.22pm hit and suddenly there was some NEW NEWS. The LA Times was now saying Jackson was in a coma… no, it had now corroborated the tmz story and was also saying on its website that he was dead. The writing was on the wall. I swtiched over to Sky News because the Beeb was talking to pie-eyed festival goers at Glastonbury, to hear Uri Gellar again, saying that Jackson was in good shape and was looking forward to touring in August. He still refused to comment on when he last spoke to Jackson, which again I found a bit odd.

Then it was back to the Beeb, and Paul Gambaccini was talking. Gambo seemed to focus in on the fact that he was shocked that a very tall man could be felled by a heart attack. He was on Sky News five minutes later, saying the same sorts of things.

Sky News seemed to be spreading its wings a bit more across all media for its news sources, and focused in on celebrity tweets during that early period when no one really knew what was going on. New cultural commentators royalty, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher were gutted, and David Miliband even tweeted a statement.

Over on the BBC and its team had rustled up a quick highlights package of Jacko’s career, which it repeated ad nauseum, so it was back over to Sky News again, who were using its contacts within the American wing of the Murdich media empire to bring us something different. Let’s join our friends on Fox News, where they are talking to actor Joe Pesci. Joe Pesci?! What has he got to do with Jackson? I half expected the interview to cut into Pesci screaming “DO I AMUSE YOU?!” a la Goodfellas, but sadly no. Sky News coat-tailed onto the interview with about 10 seconds left to go, so it was a case of hearing the presenter say, “Joe Pesci, thank you very much” and that was it. Then it was off to Harlem and the Reverend Al Sharpton, eulogising away outside the Apollo Theatre, in his super-rich, distinguished voice.

By around midnight the news had been confirmed – Michael Jackson had died. Sky News’ headline was: Michael jackson Dead. The BBC’s was: Michael Jackson Dies. Those tiny differences in tense say it all about difference in tone of the two channels – Sky News choosing the more dramatic, blunt word; the BBC a bit more of a soothing, neutral word. I know that they words ‘dead’ and ‘dies’ can hardly be calle dsoothing, but do you know what I mean?

It also illustrated that they pretty much repeat everything each other does – the BBC has Uri Gellar on, then Sky News does. Sky News has Al Sharpton on, then the BBC does 15 minutes later. The same but slightly different.

There time for a bit more of Gellar (never has he enjoyed so much screen time in one evening), this time speaking live from his home. I couldn’t take any more so it was off to bed a around 1am.