Trying to cover the ongoing Jackson story

 LOS ANGELES – Day 1, 7 hours, and 14 minutes. That's how long it took for me to realize this story was going to be different than any other I've covered.

High-profile deaths are always tricky. But, the story of Michael Jackson's death and the ensuing legal, financial and custody matters are different. 

Between TMZ, the British tabloids, and what feels like 32 million blogs writing about his death and its aftermath, information continues to pour in by the second, 24-hours a day.

SLIDESHOW: Michael Jackson: 1958-2009

You don't even want to see my blackberry when I wake up from my overnight nap. Yes, a nap. I sleep about three hours a night because doing live shots for the Today Show at 7 a.m. EST means an early wake-up call in California. And when I say "early," I mean 2:30 a.m. Pacific time. And there they are: 23 emails with all the latest information about the ongoing Jackson story on all the blogs.

Our job is to sift through the "tips," "leads," "exclusives," "sources," all of it. What's real? What's sorta real, but exaggerated? What's flat out false? We make quick decisions on what to report, but those decisions are critical.

I started referring to this story as the "Money Trap" because there are certain organizations that pay for information. NBC News does NOT pay for information or interviews.

But unverified "stories" continue to break on the web.

This doesn't mean the information is wrong. It just means our producers and I have to be extra vigilant about checking our sources.

We have to ask ourselves:

1) What's the source?

2) Was the source telling the website what they want to hear because they're being paid?

3) Is the information consistent with our own reporting, what we're hearing?

Oh, and this is fascinating. Do you know that out here in LA, lawyers have their own public relations people? The spokespeople...have spokespeople! What a town! 

I'm a New Yorker. Plain-spoken. Direct. Blunt. So, that's new for me. Fuhgetaboutit.

Here's the bottom line: the NBC News producers out here in LA are great. And they're helping a New York boy navigate the celebrity-world of self-importance, cash and pseudo-power. With four hours of sleep a day and countless Starbucks grande iced coffees later, we're ready to go!