24-hour news cycle

The 24-hour news cycle arrived with the advent of television channels dedicated to news,^[1] and brought about a much faster pace of news production with increased demand for stories that can be presented as news, as opposed to 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]

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, news sources on the World Wide Web (including blogs), have considerably shortened this process.

Critical assessment

According to former journalists Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, 24 hour news creates ferocious competition among media organizations for audience share.^[4] This, coupled with the profit demand of their corporate ownership, has led to a decline in journalistic standards.^[4] 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.^[4] 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.^[4]

See also

Journalism portal

• Broadcast Journalism
• CNN effect
• Feiler Faster Thesis
• Journalism
• Journalist
• Live broadcasting
• Local news
• News broadcasting
• Media circus
• Media event
• Media scrum
• Missing white woman syndrome
• News program
• Reporter
• Sensationalism
• Television news
• Television program
• Trial by media
• Yellow journalism

References

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

Further reading

• Nik Gowing (2009), Skyful of Lies & Black Swans, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, http://openlibrary.org/books/OL25009477M/Skyful_of_Lies_Black_Swans