This posting is just a long rant, so there.
The other day I was watching TV when the programming was interrupted because a bridge had collapsed in Minneapolis, MN. The pictures were strong and the reports from the scene were surreal. How could something like this happen?
Anyway, this is not what this post is about. What it is about is that four hours later this story was still labeled as “breaking news” on CNN, FAUX Noise and MSNBC. That really gets to me, especially since they were still rehashing the same film clips, interviews and facts. Nothing new had been added in the last few hours. To me that is still important and urgent news, but not breaking news.
Don’t get me wrong, I feel with the victims in the disaster, and all people affected in one way or another, I really do. And I think that we uregently need to get to the bottom of how this could happen in the first place. I don’t want any bridges collapsing unexpectedly, not anywhere.
But I think that the TV stations should have a 10-15 minute limit on the “breaking news” label. And I think they could continue their normal programming and then have short interruptions with regular intervals with a brief summary and any updates. After all, just because one disaster happens doesn’t mean that other things in the world stop happening. And just regurgitating the same story over and over again makes me at least go away. It also makes you numb to the disaster much quicker.
My $.02