A multisource video news service that highlights nuances in reporting from media outlets around the world.

We’re following the accident of Air France Flight 447… with 228 passengers on board. This is the type of plane, the Air Bus A330 dash 200... and searchers...

The Daily Mail – has a map and a timeline of events on what may have happened…

The flight leaves Rio De Janeiro at 11pm Greenwich Mean time…. The last radar contact with the plane comes about 2 and a half hours later… 27 minutes later – the plane may have encountered a lightning strike… and finally at 3:14 after midnight London time… the plane sends out an automated final signal.

Newsy.com is looking at sources around the world – to track what may have happened – and until the plane’s black boxes all the sources are speculating. We found detailed coverage from sources in the UK.

What’s known is the plane was entering a region of the Atlantic known for extreme turbulence…
 
The Guardian UK looks at questions and answers regarding air turbulence… and one of the questions they ask is about lightning… could that have caused the crash?

A former Airbus pilot says… “Planes are routinely hit by lightning… It should not matter. However there is a tremendous amount of energy being absorbed by the plane. It can burn out electrical components. It can sometimes punch a hole through the metal.”

The Wall Street Journal digs deeper and into the past… pointing out that if it was some kind of an electrical problem… and it may have impacted aircraft control displays…

“In 2008, U.S. crash investigators listed 16 other Airbus aircrafts that lost nearly all their cockpit displays over the years as a result of power fluctuations.”

So there is that rampant speculation… so much so that The Times Online looks at possibilities ranging from a missile attack to a hijacking to a collision… but goes on to say…

“The likely explanation is a chain of failures. Electronic problems, perhaps caused by a lightning discharge, could have interfered with the computers that control the aircraft, navigation equipment, or simply the weather radar… Accident causes are usually not what they seem to be at first. This is just speculation and media do far too much of that after crashes.”

Is the media’s speculation of the plane accident justified? Or are media outlets stirring the pot?