MJ death news: How Internet stole march over TV

As the shocking news of Michael Jackson's death broke, it was gossip website TMZ that stole the 'Breaking News' from the TV channels by becoming the first to report about pop star's sudden demise.

Just in the afternoon on Thursday, paramedics responded to a 911 call at Jackson's Holmby Hills mansion. Less than an hour later, TMZ landed the news that the multi-platinum pop singer had gone into cardiac arrest, the Los Angeles Times reported.

At 2:44 pm (local time), it beat rivals by informing the world of his death, which occurred at 2:26 pm (0256) IST.

The news outlets were already busy covering the death of '70s TV star Farrah Fawcett when TMZ first broke Jackson's death.

However, due to its tabloid nature, the news outlets were not comfortable crediting the news to the website. Initial reports around the globe credited the news to the Los Angeles Times, which gave the news on Jackson's death on its website at 2:51 pm.

"That's typical. No matter what they say, people know we broke the story. That's how competitors handle it. There's no issue about our credibility," said Harvey Levin, the managing editor of TMZ about the hesitation from the media outlets in using them as the source.

"We were getting calls from everyone under the sun, established news operations, asking, 'Are you sure?' That's such an odd question. We would not have published it if it were not true," he added.