Surviving The Shrinking News Cycle
Once upon a time, the nightly news broadcasts, in conjunction with the daily paper, were our prime sources of news. They appeared just once a day, which meant that breaking news that took place at noon didn't get to most of us until we saw it on television in the evening. Nowadays, however, cable news channels broadcast around the clock. The Internet has put the news, literally, at our fingertips. The news cycle is shorter than it's ever been. If news happens at noon, savvy news consumers often know about it by 12:01. By 6:30, they've already absorbed news analysis, talking head debates, and endless reports about the event.
This leaves the nightly newscasts with a challenge: Should producers assume their viewers haven't seen the headlines, and orient their coverage accordingly? Or should they assume they have, and try to do something new?
This leaves the nightly newscasts with a challenge: Should producers assume their viewers haven't seen the headlines, and orient their coverage accordingly? Or should they assume they have, and try to do something new?
Author Thomas Friedman on Obama's Afghanistan plan and the war on terror.
