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Abstract
This article explores the growth and character of breaking news on two 24-hour news channels in the United Kingdom, Sky News and BBC News 24. Our purpose is to examine, in detail, the nature and role of breaking news and, more generally, its impact on the quality of television news journalism. We draw upon a series of content analyses of news programming conducted in 2004, 2005/6 and 2007, and compare the elements of a breaking news item with more conventional forms of news. Our findings indicate that “breaking news” has become an increasingly important part of the 24-hour news culture. This growth means that the typical breaking news item is becoming increasingly predictable and routine. Moreover, by most measures, breaking news items are less well informed and feature less independent reporting than conventional news items. As a consequence, we argue, the decision to cover more breaking news stories impoverishes the quality of journalism.
Notes
1. These quotes can be found in both channels’ publicity material. So, for example, Sky News make this claim on their website: http://news.sky.com/skynews, whilst the quote referring to News 24 coverage can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/statements2005/text/news.html (both accessed 19 September 2008).
2. Our unit of analysis was a news item/segment, such as a report on location, a two-way or a studio interview. While news items often constitute a whole news story, a story might include several news items.
3. The 2005/6 sample was not coded for reporter location.
4. This does not mean that 71 per cent of stories used on-screen sources, since some stories will contain more than one source.
