‘Michael Jackson. Look what you’ve done' – Fatboy Slim.

When musical legends like Elvis Presley and John Lennon died, I heard the news on TV. Like most people, I sat glued to the screen as moving tributes from friends, fans and critics filled the airwaves. It was a bittersweet experience to be able to watch classic performances and interviews that - in those pre-Web 2.0 days - were rarely seen, while also being aware that the only reason they were being shown was because the artists in question were tragically no longer with us.

Fast forward to Thursday 25th June 2009 and a newsflash announces that Michael Jackson is dead. Rumours had been circulating for years about his various health problems, so the news didn't come as a total shock. His decision to undertake a gruelling 50-date residency at London's 02 Arena - something that would test the reserves of a performer half his age - had always seemed like an accident waiting to happen. Yet seeing the words 'Michael Jackson Is Dead' emblazoned across the TV screen stirred an undeniable sense of sadness for a life that plumbed the depths almost as often as it scaled the heights. Then I found myself thinking: 'Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day.'

I regularly work on a national celebrity magazine in London and Friday is press day. It's always the most hectic time of the week, as the pages that have been held back for breaking news stories and exclusive paparazzi shots need to be completed before the dreaded deadline. Given Michael Jackson's superstar status, I knew when I headed to Hove Station that other stories in the magazine would be dropped to make way for coverage of this undeniably major event. An eight-page tribute perhaps? Maybe a few more, to do justice to the moments that shaped his remarkable life? But when I arrived at the office I discovered the plan was to produce a wholly separate 92-page magazine. By the end of the day. As Michael might have said, that's bad.

It's worth mentioning the TV coverage again here. As the news had come through the previous evening, I'd flitted between various channels to see how they were presenting the story. Predictably, BBC News 24 and Sky News were on top of their game. Al Jazeera was also covering it as a main story, while the prominence Jackson's death was being given on various foreign channels proved that his fame was genuinely global. I decided to have a quick look at MTV's midnight news. I was curious to see how they'd mark the demise of the most influential video artist in their history. This should be like they've lost one of their own. But there was no mention on the 'news'. Nothing. I understand that MTV in the US was screening in-depth reports, archive footage and interviews within a matter of minutes, but it seems the UK's version of the brand trundles obliviously along its chosen path and has the turning circle of a supertanker. We needed to be a lot more adapatable than that if we were to complete our tribute in time.

And we were, thanks to a great team of editors, writers, artists, picture researchers and award-winning sub-editors. It certainly wasn't plain sailing and I can confirm that I'd be quite happy not to read the words 'K*ng *f P*p' for quite a while. Nor would I relish a repeat performance of having to find 30 or 40 different ways of describing Michael Jackson's face in less than an hour. But it was interesting to have a different perspective on the death of a legend.

Of course, despite his death, this isn't the end of the story. Fox News has gone into overload in the last few days, constantly presenting 'breaking news' that's usually just speculation or rehashed old news. And like Michael's one-time friend Dirty Diana, the Princess of Wales, there will be conspiracy theories, court cases and tales from beyond the grave. There will also be pictures of vegetables that resemble him, probably accompanied by headlines like Michael Jackson: The Man, The Myth, The Legume. And, inevitably, at some point in the future another superstar will join him on that great festival bill in the sky. I just hope he or she doesn't die on a Thursday. RIP, Michael.