I'd say the Malaysian flight disappearing/crashing-into-the-ocean is 'important' news. Here it is of global relevance because of the catastrophic nature of the incident, but one could easily argue that a series of break-ins on your street is important as well ,albeit its relevance is local therefore its only important to the people of the locality.

I believe future news/social applications will have to harmoniously marry the global with the local. In all humble honesty I sorta envision these really cool applications that'll be aware of where we are and what we want and serve us relevant content.This idea is exciting to me because we don't have to wait for superior technology to build them.