This will go down as the "darkest week" in aviation history. On July 17, the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in troubled eastern Ukraine claimed 298 lives, six days later 48 people were killed when TransAsia Airways Flight GE222 storm-crashed on Penghu Island in Taiwan, and hours later an Air Algerie-operated flight crashed in restive Mali killing 116 people.

First of all we should mourn the dead and condole their families, because such events sent shockwaves across the world. They also make us want to know the latest. And this is where new media in China, from established Internet portals to the news apps on smartphones, have been playing a vital role. Although they seem to have caught up with developed countries' media giants, their role has been both positive and negative.

The new media, which can tweet news 24 hours a day, kept readers up to date with the latest information on the air tragedies.