If something is breaking news, it means that a news story is developing so rapidly that it must be reported immediately. This could be anything from a plane crash to a building fire. There’s often fierce competition to get the story first, which can lead to frantic, sometimes inaccurate reporting. Breaking news is always the most unpredictable of all stories, and it’s often difficult to keep up with developments as they happen.
When an event is breaking news, the network interrupts current non-news programming (or a scheduled newscast) to report it live. The broadcaster will usually begin by telling its affiliated stations to “stand by” and then announce that the network is interrupting regular programming for a special report. The newscast then pauses and switches to a countdown sequence, giving affiliates a chance to switch over to the network feed.
The lead of a breaking news article should include the five Ws (who, what, where, when and why) and one H (how). It’s important to avoid speculation or relying on eyewitness accounts that aren’t verified. Speculation can backfire, as it did in the case of Gabrielle Giffords. NPR’s erroneous report that Giffords was dead was based on information from unreliable sources. In an era of 24-hour news networks, an alert crawl is the traditional way to interrupt normal programming for urgent breaking news. Before the advent of these networks, programming interruptions were reserved for severe weather events like tornadoes and hurricane warnings.
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