By Ranjona Banerji
Breaking News: Chris Licht, the new boss of CNN, has said CNN uses “breaking news” far too often!!!
This will send shockwaves through the world of TV news.
What will 24-hour TV news in India do now???
Breaking News:
PM Modi sat on a chair!
Breaking News:
PM Modi gave a speech!
Breaking News:
Kareena Kapoor wore a sari on a red carpet!
Breaking News:
This is a red carpet!
Breaking News:
Modi ji loves carpets!
Actually, I lie. There is neither any news element nor in any logical flow in the notion of constant breaking news and how it manifests on TV screens.
Many years ago, the BBC – which is no stranger to constantly “breaking” news on its news channels – ran an excellent satirical comedy called Broken News. But satire has no effect on 24-hour TV News which was born without irony during the first Gulf War.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/brokennews/aboutshow_feature.shtml
From those days of CNN to today, nothing has changed so far as a constant state of hyper-excitement about every small thing:
Breaking News: A leaf shook in Pennsylvania!
Breaking News: The Queen was seen at a palace window!
Breaking News: Donald Trump is a liar!
And as we know, Indian TV has taken the idea to intolerable heights, depths, whatever.
Licht says in his memo to staff: “This is a great starting point to try to make ‘Breaking News’ mean something BIG is happening… We are truth-tellers, focused on informing, not alarming our viewers. You’ve already seen far less of the ‘Breaking News’ banner across our programming. The tenor of our voice holistically has to reflect that.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/02/new-cnn-boss-has-a-message-for-staffers-cool-it-with-the-breaking-news-banner.html?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=Main&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1654185727
How far TV News can self-correct will be interesting to observe. Two generations of journalists have grown up thinking that a constant stream of fluff and gutter news make good journalism. Exaggeration and disproportionate drama are the norm. In print, what used to be denigrated as yellow journalism has become the mainstream. It is unfair to use the term tabloidisation because I have worked for years in a tabloid and we covered serious news and news seriously in ways that TV cannot imagine.
Sensationalist is the kindest word one can use.
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And then there’s the sort of news that would never get sensationalised. Like science.
In the Sounds of a Physics Finding in China, Echoes of a Fading Indian Experiment
With the neutrino lab, we have a failure, because governments interfere.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/science/225-hectare-maharashtra-land-handed-over-for-first-ligo-project-in-india/articleshow/87771738.cms
With the LIGO project, there’s been a massive shadow between thought and action, but maybe something may happen now.
These are two very exciting projects which take us to the origins of the Universe and to understanding its phenomena. But there is less news about these than about some billionaires wasting money to fly to the edge of the atmosphere. If only some billionaire would pose bare-chested or in some idiotic spacesuit at some science centre, who knows? It might just make “breaking news”!
Science journalism is a neglected craft as the pandemic showed us. Not that the journalists neglect their work. It is newsrooms, owners and pliant editors who have no clue.
They’re just eagerly waiting:
Breaking News!
Modi ji waves to massive invisible crowds!
Modi ji is great!
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.