BREAKING NEWS: CNN’s new chief told staff to simmer on the “Breaking News” chart, but MSNBC abuses and misuses that chyron just as much....
BREAKING NEWS: CNN’s new chief told staff to simmer on the “Breaking News” chart, but MSNBC abuses and misuses that chyron just as much.
But that’s not breaking news, is it?
Exactly.
News consumers have long complained that cable news outlets, especially CNN, are overusing the breaking news chart – for stories that simply aren’t breaking news – in a desperate attempt to maintain ratings.
Fortunately, CNN takes a personal view.
In A memo to staffers on Thursday, CNN’s new president Chris Licht said:
I’ve heard people inside and outside the organization complain that we’re abusing the “Breaking News” banner. I agree. He has become such a fixture on every channel and network that his impact has been lost on audiences. Starting today, CNN has added a “Breaking News” guideline to our stylebook. Special thanks to Sam Feist, who led the team that developed the guideline. It will definitely need tweaking, so we’re open to feedback, but it’s a great starting point to try and make “Breaking News” mean something BIG is happening.
Go figure. Now MSNBC should follow suit.
Deadline: White Househosted by Nicole Wallace, is a particularly glaring example. A recent episode of the show featured a breaking news banner for its entire hour-long run — during segments that absolutely don’t qualify as breaking news.
On Friday, the examples of abuse of breaking news were plentiful. morning joe used the “Breaking News” chyron to announce their interview with the Ambassador of Ukraine Oksana Markarova.
Also on Friday, MSNBC used the “Breaking News” banner when the president Joe Biden talked about the May jobs report.
The competition was more restricted: on CNN, the news was accompanied by a chyron “Happening Now”. Fox News used its “Fox News Alert” banner.
Thursday, Reporting by Chris Jansing used the chyron to break the news that the former attorney general Bill Barre was leaving a meeting with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Since when does the passage of a former attorney general in a corridor make the headlines?
A similar case occurred on Sunday when Alex Witt reports showed Biden and First Lady’s ‘Breaking News’ banner Jill Biden arriving in Uvalde, Texas, less than a week after the tragic shooting at Robb Elementary School, where 19 children and two adults were killed.
Someone, even the president, getting somewhere just isn’t breaking news.
The relentless abuse and abuse of the breaking news chyron might be good for cheap ratings, but will end up causing viewers to tune out. After all: if everything is news, nothing is.
It shouldn’t need to be said, but the breaking news chyron should be used for what and when there is actually breaking news. Networks like MSNBC need to find a way to attract viewers without detracting from the chart.
No Breaking News: MSNBC’s breaking news chyron is broken and should get the Licht treatment.
This is an opinion piece. The opinions expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author.
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