"Breaking News" is overused
I have notifications turned on for both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Every day, it feels like I receive at least five "BREAKING NEWS" notifications. Yet often these are just regular stories that aren't that interesting.
I feel like ten years ago, Breaking News actually meant, well, Breaking News. Something urgent, ground-breaking, happening in real time. The 24-hour news cycle has seemingly created a need for outlets to keep their audiences hooked, and one of the easiest ways to do that is by slapping the "Breaking" title on a story. I also cannot help but feel like social media, especially X and Instagram, has made it worse. The race to be first. The lack of editorial gatekeeping. The engagement-bait dynamic
The irony is, when everything is urgent, nothing is. By overusing the term "Breaking", outlets just train people to ignore it. Nowadays, I hardly bat an eye when the notification comes on my screen.
I wonder where we go from here? Will there be a news alert tier higher than Breaking? When superlatives get overused, do you need an even stronger superlative to do the job the original superlative was supposed to?