New York Times homepageReporting and curating breaking news on
tragic stories is not only every major media's journalistic
duty, it's also good business.  Breaking news can bring out the
worst in news organizations. Remember inflated reports from
Katrina?  But if big media curate the best resources, report at
a faster pace, and become better hubs of information, they have
the opportunity to be richly rewarded. But they have to find the
right brands to take a risk with them.  It's sticky territory to
discuss how big breaking news stories can make money. But there
is no doubt that every ad guy in media is trying to figure out
how to do it better.  Monetizing traffic spikes is tough. Online
ads are sold based on the number of impressions they can expect
to have. But now that news organizations are setting up special
breaking news areas on their sites, where they can monitor users
who come to them for big stories.  There are millions of
observers furiously refreshing their browsers for the latest
updates from res