Breaking news vs. braking news

The 24-hour news cycle
hinders good reporting

Some news happens fast. Airplane crashes, fires, crime are all examples.

Other news happens more slowly. Bills introduced into a state legislature can take months before a final vote. Issues like unrest in the Middle East can take decades.

News reporting, on the other hand, happens every minute of every day on a 24-hour cycle. Gone are the days when television news programs were broadcast in the early evening and before bedtime and newspapers generated one edition per day.

This change has taken place for because of the economics of the media business, not out of a desire to improve the quality of news or maximize technology. There is money to be made in 24-hour television news and on the Internet. And while those technologies happen to be immediate, the business model for media is the same as it has always been and that requires that they draw the largest audience possible for their advertisers.

The 24-hour cycle works well for fast news – what reporters call breaking news. Events are unfolding quickly and immediate coverage allows news consumers to watch it often in real time. The excitement is built in.

But when there is no breaking news, only slow news, the 24-hour deadline continues, so reporters treat each new fact as if important. Viewers are encouraged to believe that if they drift away, some important development could take place that they will miss. The audience must be preserved.

News consumers are better informed when they put the brakes on the 24-hour cycle. When something happens reporters, like the rest of us, need time to make sense of it. They need time to talk to sources and gather facts so that the story they give us is balanced and complete. Unfortunately, the must serve the 24-hour deadline, so they report each fact as it’s gathered and only later do they have the opportunity to gather it all into a single story with depth and perspective.

When news happens, smart news consumers give reporters a chance to do their jobs and get our news later rather than sooner. In the long run, we spend the same or less time each day in getting the news we need and we get better quality information.