Today’s press conference by NBA Commissioner David Stern confirmed and supported the news that the FBI is investigating NBA referee Tim Donaghy on allegations of betting on basketball games, including ones he officiated, during the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons. Tim Donaghy already resigned on July 9 amidst these allegations. The investigation is ongoing.

I’m a huge fan of the NBA—basketball is one of my favorite sports. But I don’t want to comment here about Tim Donaghy himself or the gambling issues or David Stern or the state of the NBA or the future of the NBA. I want to talk about the amazing online reaction to this particular news story and how it has affected and reflected public opinion.

I’ve been following this news story online, where I’ve found a proliferation of media pieces related to this story, from major news network articles to YouTube videos to bloggers' personal takes and research. Wikipedia even has an entry and current news on Tim Donaghy. It has once again confirmed to me how quickly news travels online and how quickly online media and entities respond and add value to the news stories.

For example, within just a couple of days of this Tim Donaghy betting story hitting the news wires, a number of videos analyzing certain games refereed by Donaghy were put together and published on YouTube, such as this piece analyzing the 2007 Spurs-Suns playoff game 3:

Also on YouTube, an independent sports news show animation was produced, and clips from TV networks covering the story were reproduced.

Anyone who wants to see the Tim Donaghy refereeing videos and analyze Tim Donaghy’s refereeing statistics for themselves, to judge the evidence, can do so. Granted, it’s not all of the evidence by any stretch of the imagination, but this easy availability of information is something only known to this new era of free information online.

Many people are going back and analyzing Tim Donaghy’s performances on their own, then giving a summary of their findings. Citizen journalism in action. For example, the blogger on draftkevindurant.blogspot.com took the time to find and list 13 compelling and questionable occurrences involving Tim Donaghy. Seth on PostingandToasting.com outlines how Tim Donaghy may have affected the Knicks.

And of course every major news network online is covering the story, from ESPN.com to Yahoo News to the New York Times and the Washington Post. The outpouring of media and citizen journalism coverage has been prolific and immediate. In today’s online world of free and fast-flowing information, “you can’t run and you can’t hide” is the moral of the story for any public figure. The court of public opinion is stronger and louder than ever.