Breaking News
What constitutes breaking news?
That can be a matter of opinion and makes it hard to distinguish what should or should not be considered breaking news.
I follow CNN Breaking News on Twitter and expect to see hard hitting, important political topics that are current. See there is that matter of opinion. That is what I believe I should see when I look at the news in the morning. The gatekeeper of that particular page may have a very different idea as to what will make a good story for the public. The story that they decided to post about today was the debate over Trump pulling his White House invite to Stephen Curry. This particular article written by CNN was about the response by professional athletes. There is always going to be controversy behind the words and actions of the president. However, the questions stands, does this constitute as political breaking news?
Trump has had one of the most vocally scrutinized political campaigns and presidency. That is largely to do with the fact that he and the public make it so easy to view everything he is doing on a wide set scale. It is important to know about what is going on and see the type of man that is the president, but I don't necessarily agree that news outlets such as the CNN twitter account made specifically for breaking news is the right platform. It is a compelling story though, that the public would read. It is exactly what our society thrives on, conflict.
It is the gatekeepers decision as to what they choose is newsworthy and therefore they are responsible for the information they supply to the public. They are also telling us what they themselves deem newsworthy.
That can be a matter of opinion and makes it hard to distinguish what should or should not be considered breaking news.
I follow CNN Breaking News on Twitter and expect to see hard hitting, important political topics that are current. See there is that matter of opinion. That is what I believe I should see when I look at the news in the morning. The gatekeeper of that particular page may have a very different idea as to what will make a good story for the public. The story that they decided to post about today was the debate over Trump pulling his White House invite to Stephen Curry. This particular article written by CNN was about the response by professional athletes. There is always going to be controversy behind the words and actions of the president. However, the questions stands, does this constitute as political breaking news?
Trump has had one of the most vocally scrutinized political campaigns and presidency. That is largely to do with the fact that he and the public make it so easy to view everything he is doing on a wide set scale. It is important to know about what is going on and see the type of man that is the president, but I don't necessarily agree that news outlets such as the CNN twitter account made specifically for breaking news is the right platform. It is a compelling story though, that the public would read. It is exactly what our society thrives on, conflict.
It is the gatekeepers decision as to what they choose is newsworthy and therefore they are responsible for the information they supply to the public. They are also telling us what they themselves deem newsworthy.
This is a really interesting post, I like what you said about society thriving on conflict. I think any type of conflict that involves two "important" figures like the president and a very well known athlete such as Stephen Curry will be what some deem newsworthy. To me, drama seems to be what is newsworthy, especially conflict or something that could start up another argument. Think about it, let's replace the people in this particular story with two ordinary people. Would it make sense? Would people even care? So I think when news stations' gatekeepers are deciding what news to break they may keep these kinds of things in mind.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting post, I like what you said about society thriving on conflict. I think any type of conflict that involves two "important" figures like the president and a very well known athlete such as Stephen Curry will be what some deem newsworthy. To me, drama seems to be what is newsworthy, especially conflict or something that could start up another argument. Think about it, let's replace the people in this particular story with two ordinary people. Would it make sense? Would people even care? So I think when news stations' gatekeepers are deciding what news to break they may keep these kinds of things in mind.
ReplyDeleteThis is an incredibly important topic, and I think you're thinking in the right direction. There are multiple news values that go into making a story newsworthy, and the prominence of the people involved is certainly one of them. In this particular instance, there's a triforce of celebrity: the top two highest-earning players in the NBA, LeBron James and Stephen Curry, are having a spat with the president of the United States. Now, I see your uncertainty here: is this something worthy of being reported on at the highest level? Does it deserve that coveted title of "Breaking News"? Well, that's subjective and it depends largely upon the priorities of individuals, but I'd like to argue that yes, it does. Here's something to consider: if we could take a step back and forget the deluge of political news that has saturated us as a nation for the past two years or so, and instead look at this story in a vacuum, we would be shocked. This story would be making headlines for weeks. The sitting president of the United States having a Twitter spat with a couple of NBA players? In previous administrations, that would be the scandal of the century. Granted, we've become used to this kind of drama, but I don't think we should. Even if it's become the new normal, it's fundamentally not normal--and the news media has the responsibility to report it as such. Not reporting on the ridiculous aspects of the president's temperament is a disservice to the American people. We have the right to know the character of the man sitting in the highest office of the land, and if the nature of that character is to engage in Twitter arguments with athletes...well, that's important to know.
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