‘Breaking News’ is broken. Let’s fix it.

We really need to stop calling everything “breaking.”

You guys. Let’s get real here for a minute. How often do you see something labeled “BREAKING NEWS” that is neither breaking nor news?

Go home, AP, you’re drunk.

Sometimes, “BREAKING NEWS” is a scheduled press conference…

Nope.

…or, well… whatever it is.

THAT. IS. NOT. BREAKING. NEWS.

Breaking news is a joke. No, really, it is.

Still, things seem to have only gotten worse, since, and it’s nowhere near the only problem with modern news.

Really, though, what’s going on with journalism, in general?

I don’t know, man. It’s really schlonged up.

If you can pre-schedule it, it is not breaking news.

Ground rules exist for news consumers, so how about some for news producers?

Should you encounter *actual* breaking news, check out this guide from On The Media.

Professional storyteller-human. @Upworthy Writer-person. Word-stuff. Opinions my own (and probably wrong).

Professional storyteller-human. @Upworthy Writer-person. Word-stuff. Opinions my own (and probably wrong).