24-hour news cycle

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Several simultaneous NBC News broadcasts (including MSNBC, NBC's Today and CNBC's Squawk Box) displayed on monitors US Navy 111111-N-FC670-041 CNO, Adm. Jonathan Greenert is interviewed on the MSNBC News network.jpg
Several simultaneous NBC News broadcasts (including MSNBC, NBC's Today and CNBC's Squawk Box ) displayed on monitors

The 24-hour news cycle (or 24/7 news cycle) is the 24-hour investigation and reporting of news, concomitant with fast-paced lifestyles. The vast news resources available in recent decades have increased competition for audience and advertiser attention, prompting media providers to deliver the latest news in the most compelling manner in order to remain ahead of competitors. Television, radio, print, online and mobile app news media all have many suppliers that want to be relevant to their audiences and deliver news first.

Contents

A complete news cycle consists of the media reporting on some event, followed by the media reporting on public and other reactions to the earlier reports. The advent of 24-hour cable and satellite television news channels and, in more recent times, of news sources on the World Wide Web (including blogs), considerably shortened this process.

History

Although all-news radio operated for decades earlier, the 24-hour news cycle arrived with the advent of cable television channels dedicated to news [1] and brought about a much faster pace of news production with an increased demand for stories that could be presented as continual news with constant updating. This was a contrast with the day-by-day pace of the news cycle of printed daily newspapers. [2] A high premium on faster reporting would see a further increase with the advent of online news. [3]

In 2015, Time magazine noted that the 1995 O. J. Simpson murder case was a significant early example of the 24-hour news cycle. [4]

Critical assessment

According to former journalists Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, 24-hour news creates wild competition among media organizations for audience share. [5] This, coupled with the profit demand of their corporate ownership, has led to a decline in journalistic standards. [5] In their book Warp Speed: America in the Age of Mixed Media, they write that "the press has moved toward sensationalism, entertainment, and opinion" and away from traditional values of verification, proportion, relevance, depth, and quality of interpretation. [5] They fear these values will be replaced by a "journalism of assertion" which de-emphasizes whether a claim is valid and encourages putting a claim into the arena of public discussion as quickly as possible. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation, the methods of gathering information, and the organizing literary styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Journalist</span> Person who collects, writes and distributes news and similar information

A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CNN</span> American news channel

Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news channel and website operating from Midtown Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the Manhattan-based media conglomerate Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), CNN was the first television channel to provide 24-hour news coverage and the first all-news television channel in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">News presenter</span> Person who presents news during a news program

A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster, anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. They may also be a working journalist, assisting in the collection of news material and may, in addition, provide commentary during the program. News presenters most often work from a television studio or radio studio, but may also present the news from remote locations in the field related to a particular major news event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sensationalism</span> Type of editorial tactic used in mass media

In journalism and mass media, sensationalism is a type of editorial tactic. Events and topics in news stories are selected and worded to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers. This style of news reporting encourages biased or emotionally loaded impressions of events rather than neutrality, and may cause a manipulation to the truth of a story. Sensationalism may rely on reports about generally insignificant matters and portray them as a major influence on society, or biased presentations of newsworthy topics, in a trivial, or tabloid manner, contrary to general assumptions of professional journalistic standards.

Infotainment, also called soft news as a way to distinguish it from serious journalism or hard news, is a type of media, usually television or online, that provides a combination of information and entertainment. The term may be used disparagingly to devalue infotainment or soft news subjects in favor of more serious hard news subjects. Infotainment-based websites and social media apps gained traction due to their focused publishing of infotainment content, e.g. BuzzFeed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Television news in the United States</span> Aspect of news broadcasting

Television news in the United States has evolved over many years. It has gone from a simple 10- to 15-minute format in the evenings, to a variety of programs and channels. Today, viewers can watch local, regional and national news programming, in many different ways, any time of the day.

Journalistic ethics and standards comprise principles of ethics and good practice applicable to journalists. This subset of media ethics is known as journalism's professional "code of ethics" and the "canons of journalism". The basic codes and canons commonly appear in statements by professional journalism associations and individual print, broadcast, and online news organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">News broadcasting</span> Medium of broadcasting news events

News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or television studio newsroom, or by a broadcast network. A news broadcast may include material such as sports coverage, weather forecasts, traffic reports, political commentary, expert opinions, editorial content, and other material that the broadcaster feels is relevant to their audience. An individual news program is typically reported in a series of individual stories that are presented by one or more anchors. A frequent inclusion is live or recorded interviews by field reporters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadcast journalism</span> Field of news and journals which are broadcast

Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio, television and the World Wide Web. Such media disperse pictures, visual text and sounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Science journalism</span> Journalism genre

Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists and the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CNN effect</span> Theory in political science and media studies

The CNN effect is a theory in political science and media studies which states that global television networks, in their modern ability to provide live, 24-hours news coverage from anywhere in the world, play a significant role in determining the actions policymakers take and the outcomes of events.

The Feiler faster thesis (FFT) is a thesis, or supported argument, in modern journalism that suggests that the increasing pace of society is matched by journalists' ability to report events and the public's desire for more information.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">News media in the United States</span> American reporting on current events

Mass media are the means through which information is transmitted to a large audience. This includes newspapers, television, radio, and more recently the Internet. Organizations that provide news through mass media in the United States are collectively known as the news media in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Political journalism</span> Political reporter

Political journalism is a broad branch of journalism that includes coverage of all aspects of politics and political science, although the term usually refers specifically to coverage of civil governments and political power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">News</span> Information about current events

News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. News is sometimes called "hard news" to differentiate it from soft media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States cable news</span> News disseminated through cable television networks

Cable news channels are television networks devoted to television news broadcasts, with the name deriving from the proliferation of such networks during the 1980s with the advent of cable television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian online media</span>

Canadian online media is content aimed at a Canadian audience through the medium of the Internet. Presently, online media can be accessed by computers, smart-phones, gaming consoles, Smart TVs, MP3 players, and tablets. The characteristics of Canadian online media are strongly shaped by the Canadian communications industry, even though their statistics and findings are more often than not associated with American research. Large media companies are increasingly on the move to start up online platforms for news and television content. The exponential growth of Canadians' dependency on online content for entertainment and information has been evident in the recent decades. However, it has proven slow for Canadian online media to catch up with the constant increase of American online media. Regardless of medium, entertainment and information hubs are not solely focusing on satisfying the audience they have, but are also heavily expanding their reach to new global audiences.

The Persian Gulf War, codenamed Operation Desert Storm and commonly referred to as the Gulf War, was a war waged by a United Nations-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait. Media coverage of the Gulf War was significant for many reasons including CNN's live reporting from a Baghdad hotel, alternative and international coverage, and the use of images.

Piers Gregory Robinson is a British academic researcher in the field of media studies. He is also a co-director of the Organisation for Propaganda Studies and a founder of the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media (SPM). He has authored a number of publications on the CNN effect. He has attracted criticism for disputing the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Civil War.

References

  1. Silvia, Tony (2001). "2. CNN: The Origins of the 24-Hour, International News Cycle". Global News: Perspectives on the Information Age. Blackwell. pp. 45f. ISBN   0-8138-0256-3.
  2. Kansas, David; Gitlin, Todd (2001). "What's the Rush: An e-epistolary Debate on the 24 hour news clock". In Giles, Robert H.; Snyder, Robert W. (eds.). What's Next?: Problems & Prospects of Journalism. Transaction. pp.  83f. ISBN   0-7658-0709-2.
  3. Swanson, David L. (2003). "1. Political news in the changing environment of political journalism". In Wolfsfeld, Gadi; Maarek, Philippe J. (eds.). Political Communication in a New Era: A Cross-national Perspective. Routledge. pp. 20f. ISBN   0-415-28953-X.
  4. How the O.J. Simpson Verdict Changed the Way We All Watch TV|Time
  5. 1 2 3 4 Weaver, David H.; et al. (2006). "8. Journalists' Best Work". The American Journalist in the 21st Century: US News People at the Dawn of a New Millennium. Routledge. p. 226. ISBN   0-8058-5382-0.

Further reading