How are we, as news consumers, expected to be properly informed when everything is breathlessly reported in the media as “breaking news” or some such screaming alert?
One place to turn is public radio WYNC’s Breaking News Consumer’s Handbooks. The station’s website holds that “Breaking news reporting often gets essential facts wrong. In fact, the rampant misreporting can be so common as to be predictable.”
To rectify this shortfall, the handbooks dive into such issues as the Israel-Gaza war, crime, and storms.
Providing an Overview
These are valuable resources, and I commend them to your attention. I only wish they issued more of them. The latest one, examining the Israel-Gaza war, was issued in October 2023.
Additionally, an overview edition that covered some basics would be valuable. Such an issue could include, for example:
- A reminder to look critically at that “breaking news” banner on television newscasts, since it is used so often as to be meaningless
- How to separate real breaking news (e.g., a tornado warning) from the mundane (e.g., a rerun story left over from yesterday’s late night broadcast)
- How to turn off, or at least limit, the news nags shoveled out to our devices
- When it’s best to simply tune out the news noise
The WNYC handbooks attempt to address both sides of the problem, writing on the station’s website, “Rather than counting on news outlets to get it right, we’re looking at the other end. We have some tips for how to sort good information from bad — whether the breaking news is about a tragic mass shooting or a stock market crash, an epidemic or a rash of election polls.”
I’m Going to Attack You
Yet broadcasters should not be left off the hook. The most obvious solution: Stop with the incessant “BREAKING NEWS” banners flying across our TV screens (typically accompanied by ominous pounding drums). Viewers become immune to such ploys, making it difficult to capture their attention when truly important news breaks.
Just stop with the announcer at the top of the show dramatically intoning something along the lines of “We start with breaking news.” Well, that’s kind of why I’m watching in the first place, isn’t it? I don’t expect you to lead with a story about a cute dog or an achingly trendy new restaurant. The top of the broadcast should deliver the most important news of the day. Granted, there is editorial judgement at play, and that’s fine. If I don’t like your priorities, I can switch channels or turn off the tube.
I’m also pleading with news executives to ditch gambits like the “Live Desk” or “Alert Desk.” I eagerly await the day when that Live Desk animates itself and chases the reporter off the set.
Another annoying factor, at least in my local Washington, D.C. market, is that irritating swoosh (both visually and auditorily) between every single story. My local Fox station has rendered itself unwatchable thanks to that sorry technique. I can’t help but wonder which genius news executive came up with that one.
The sad fact is it is not getting any easier for us to be intelligently well-versed news consumers. The best advice: Watch and read with a critical eye. Choose carefully which media you monitor. And lastly, don’t fall prey to the nonstop bleating of the “Breaking News” sirens.
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