Breaking News burnout…
The Courier-Journal’s Tom Dorsey writes about reader reaction to a story he did on Breaking News which is probably not what MSNBC GM Dan Abrams wants to hear right now…
Last week’s column on stories labeled “Breaking News” by TV stations touched a nerve with readers. Here are some of their comments:
“Thank you for speaking out for a lot of us who are sick of ‘Breaking News’ promotions!,” wrote Linda Traylor of New Albany. “Over the weekend we were talking about this with friends who also are totally turned off by the practice.”
Jack Ragan, who lives in Okolona, grew up in Chicago, where his favorite station only airs two hours of news a day.
“Of course, we here in Louisville have seven hours daily from WAVE, approximately the same as other top stations. Plus many break-ins for ‘Breaking News’ many times in an average day. Many of them shouldn’t get more than a casual mention in a regular newscast. Oh, for the good old days.”
The thing is, if you’re watching a news channel, you should be expecting “breaking news”. Fox does overdo it at times, however, especially when they’re on some type of a jury watch (Fox News Alert: “Jury goes to lunch”, or “Jury goes home for the day”). But maybe it’s better to err on the side of too much news rather than not enough.
Comment by Missy — July 4, 2006 @ 9:39 am
I couldn’t have said it better Missy! I agree that Fox sometimes overdoes it but if I’m watching a news channel, I want the news. And sometimes I don’t have an hour to sit in front of the TV to find out what’s going on, so if CNN or Fox or MSNBC repeat breaking news stories every 15 minutes or whatever, then I’m more likely to catch it. I definitely prefer that a channel err on the side of more news, as long as it’s verified to the best of their abilities.
Comment by OverHere — July 4, 2006 @ 11:53 am
I hate it when they do “Breaking News” and it is a fire in a building in some place like Houston. That is local news………….
Comment by jan — July 4, 2006 @ 12:45 pm
Yeah…that’s bad. I dislike it too. Or some overturned vehicle on a freeway…
Comment by Spud — July 4, 2006 @ 1:05 pm
Yeah I agree with that too, unless it’s something like an airport or a major interstate that could have wider implications than just that local area then I don’t need to know that the Stop & Shop is on fire.
Comment by OverHere — July 4, 2006 @ 3:27 pm
And when there’s a real breaking news story, i.e. North Korea launching three missiles, CNN is all over it and MSNBC and FNC are airing regular programming until almost an hour after the fact. Ridiculous!!!
Comment by Domination — July 4, 2006 @ 5:02 pm
Right now, CNN and Fox News are in full breaking news mode for North Korea’s missile launches. MSNBC is on taped documentary programming. How unbelievably embarrassing, as this may be the most important international news story of 2006 thus far. CNN has clearly been the best of the two remaining cable news networks, by the way.
Comment by Jimmy — July 4, 2006 @ 5:12 pm
UPDATE - 5:19 p.m.:
As the U.N. scrambles for an emergency meeting and CNN and FNC burn up the phones to cover the North Korean missile crisis, MSNBC is airing a documentary about the BTK killer.
Comment by Jimmy — July 4, 2006 @ 5:19 pm
This could possibly be the worst blunder ever in MSNBC history. Maybe this will be a lesson that like crime, news doesn’t take a holiday either.
Comment by Brent — July 4, 2006 @ 6:10 pm
WH just said that SIX missiles were fired, CNN is all over it, MSNBC still in documentary stuff. WHAT THE HECK?
Comment by Jack — July 4, 2006 @ 7:01 pm
Jimmy & Domination: Fox beat CNN by at least 10-15 minutes with the North Korea missle story.
Subbing for Cavuto, David Asman first reported North Korea at about 1:20PM PT. When I tuned to CNN about 1:30-1:35PM, Wolfie’s substitute was talking about something else. And of course MSNBC was taking a late Holiday lunch.
Comment by Ira — July 4, 2006 @ 7:13 pm
I noticed today on Special Report, with Brian Wilson subbing, that there were several times coming back from commercial that they had breaking North Korea news. These were perfect times for a Fox News Alert, but he called them updates and clarifications. When I think about it, I can’t remember Brit Hume ever doing a Fox News Alert. Does the FNC Washington bureau have different rules?
Comment by erljr — July 4, 2006 @ 11:57 pm