What Constitutes "Breaking" News?

[orleans]

is news considered "breaking" after 2 hours? twelve? twenty four hours?

msnbc has "breaking" news alert about 4 dead, 30 missing, bridge collapse in Minneapolis

just curious as to what "breaking" means

[annabanana]

1. It is apparently anything that they think will distract. . . . n/t

[Captain Hilts]

2. MSNBC wants to keep us glued to the edge of our seats. nt

[meegbear]

3. Anything that is bleeding or about Britney, Paris or Linsdey is breaking ...

all other is filler.

[Orrex]

4. Everything on cnn.com is considered "latest breaking," to them

Even if it's been online all day, and even if it's non-news like the latest comings and goings of this or that dubious celebrity.

[question everything]

5. Same in CNN

They keep report the same stories under the "Breaking News" banner.

[RB TexLa]

6. Also depends on where it is. Accident that kills 4 Mericans breaking, 100 dead in accident in

Africa, maybe gets put on the scroll, you know don't want to waste much time on "dem furiners."

[TlalocW]

7. Depends if there ae news that makes Bush look bad (or worse)

then suddenly Britney, Lindsey, Paris, or Anna Nicole information becomes very important.

TlalocW

[Ian David]

8. If it bleeds, it leads. If the woman is white, run updates all night. n/t

[porphyrian]

9. If it's like "new" music on radio, it's about 15 years. - n/t

[kskiska]

10. I remember back when a news reporter breaking into a program

or a crawl at the bottom of the screen meant dire news, like a president being shot.

[flamingyouth]

11. It's 12 hours on DU.

I'm amazed at how quickly people post news in LBN, though. Way faster than many of the news outlets.:D

But I have a friend who doesn't have a TV, doesn't read the papers and doesn't seem to get the news from any source whatsoever. I'll mention some big event like this (in fact, I'm seeing her today; I wonder if she's even heard about this?) and she'll have no clue. There are probably people tuning in right now who haven't heard, believe it or not.

[flamingyouth]

13. I just had to follow up on this.

I saw my friend I mentioned above and as of 2:50 Pacific time she had indeed NOT heard about the bridge collapse, as I predicted above.

[mmonk]

12. Lindsay Lohan

[malaise]

14. Until people's dead relatives are recovered

I'll accept this as breaking news.