The New News Covers the Microsoft Bid for Yahoo

While many folks have been caught up the past 72 hours with the drama of Microsoft's bid for Yahoo and rumors of potential competing bids, I've been fascinated with how the new news has been covering the drama.

One thing that is for sure is that this big bit of breaking news has been a great test for the new news.

While the traditional new outlets largely work on a daily cycle, the blog networks have been working on minute by minute cycles, pushing publish on the wordpress or CMS of choice each time a new wind blows.

• Michael Arrington and the team at Techcrunch has clearly been working around the clock, on the phone with a bevy of sources in attempt to be first to break any bit of rumor.  Techcrunch has been playing the insider game, breaking stories of palace intrigue based on the Mike's best sources.  TechCrunch Stories this weekend include:
• The yahoo team misses the super bowl to strategize on next steps.
• Who might be able to bid for Yahoo to compete with Microsoft's bid.
• Microsoft responds to Google.
• Can Google credibly cry foul? No.
  
• Google responds to Microsoft.
• News Corp scramles to bid
• Henry Blodget and his team at Alley Insider have taken a more financial approach, offering insights from wall street, investment banking, and even providing alternative suggestions for a Yahoo / MSFT combo:
• The Latest
  Yahoo Google May Team Up To Thwart Microsoft
  Why the Yahoo-Microsoft Deal Will Be a Disaster
  Dear Jerry and Steve...Here's the Answer
  Microsoft Conf Call Ballmer + Liddell 8AM / 5AM Monday
  Yahoo Refused Polite Offer, So Microsoft Went Hostile
  
  Competing Offers?
  Hold Everything! We May Get Another Yahoo Bidder!
  Could Private Equity Actually Stop a Microsoft-Yahoo Deal? Unlikely
  News Corp Frantically Trying To Mount Competing Bid
  Bidding War for Yahoo? We Doubt It
  AT&T Not Likely To Bid--Microsoft Insider
  
  Integration Plans
  Microsoft Insider on brand, retention, competitive offers, and Yahoo reaction
  Yahoo's Shrinking Sales Team
  
  Deal Analysis
  Analysis of Microsoft Bid for Yahoo: Brilliant Move, Deal Going Through
  Microsoft Conference Call: No Color on Yahoo Reaction
  Microsoft Letter to Yahoo Board
  
  Reactions
  Madison Avenue: We Love Microsoft-Yahoo!
  Interpublic: Microsoft is Muzzling Us
  Street Analysts React
• ValleyWag has gone for sarcasm and humor:
• Microsoft to Google: Nuh uh, you're a bigger threat to freedom than we are
• Google's turn to waterboard Microsoft
• Yahoo and the future of the Internet: The 100-word version
• Microsoft-Yahoo promises "everything" in the world, says Today Show
• Overworked Tech Reporter Loses Mind
• PaidContent has been slower to follow the rumors than TechCrunch, reporting on them after a few other news orgs also followed, and have primarily focused on deeper analysis and ramifications for the media industry:
• MSFT-YHOO: Special Newspaper Consortium Edition
• Google: MSFT Bid Raises 'Troubling Questions'; Openness Mantra Again; MSFT Responds: We'd be No 2Will Yahoo Tie up With Google To Rebuff MSFT's Bid?Will Yahoo Tie up With Google To Rebuff MSFT's Bid?
• Will Yahoo Tie up With Google To Rebuff MSFT's Bid?
• MSFT-YHOO: Effects On Other Internet M&A

Kara Swisher of the WSJ's All Things D leverages her own unique access to top Silicon Valley brass to probe into the offer with her usual cynical wit:

• Is Microsoft's Bid for Yahoo Too Cheap?
• Microsoft to Yahoo: Two Days to Respond or Else!
• The Inevitable Endgame for Yahoo