“Need-to-know” news seems to follow us everywhere. In our cars, apps connect us to the latest headlines. During short elevator rides, screens catch us up with the weather, breaking stories, and sports scores. Meanwhile, personal phones ping or ring with news updates unless we take time to silence them. This immersive, surround connectivity is recent, and is more a function of technology needing content, than people needing news. For good or for bad, it comes with consequences. It’s time to ask whether the 24/7 news cycle is running your life.
It may same like a new problem, but it’s not. The engorgement of news got started before the millennium. We didn’t notice the change when the Weather Channel went to a 24/7 format and the Cable News Network (CNN) began around-the-clock news. CNN was the first 24 hour news channel, launched in 1980 and The Weather Channel went on the air with this format in 1982. These were game changers.
Holy Moley:
To understand the significance, imagine digging a hole in the ground but then filling it back up. If you dig a shallow hole, just a few inches deep, you top it with a few shovel-fulls of soil. But, if you have a deeper hole to close up, say many feet deep, you have to search for content or fill. Not so coincidentally, it’s called dirt.
Likewise, when bandwidth increased, and the Weather Channel and CNN went to a twenty-four hour format, these broadcast services had to find the fill. They had options. The Weather Channel relied on the continuous reporting from the government satellite and augmented it with stories from local stations. Similarly, CNN launched a search for new ideas, many international; they also produced longer segments, and honed new genres like polls and the man-on-the-street interview. Significantly for viewers, these broadcasters staggered the content to play over and over again. It looped, at different times of the day. So, people who did not turn the news off, the so-called heavy viewers of television, unwittingly saw the same content, the same pictures, multiple times. Repetition of content matters tends to make content seem more important and real. More casual viewers saw the same material but were likely to have different interpretations and take-aways.
Filling Holy:
“Filling the hole” spurred other content efforts. Inadvertently, it may have led to shallow reporting. Unless the reporting and production staffs were increased in proportion to time-on-air, individual journalists had less time to develop their stories. Investigative stories that required more in-depth efforts may have been the first casualty.
The need to fill air-time might also have led to more reliance on anchors seated in a studio. It was less expensive and more predictable to have an attractive anchor, one that developed a fan base and credibility, read the news from a desk.
But most importantly, filling the time- for either the Weather Channel, CNN, and other media- meant developing an audience for this “news”. The bigger audience was needed so that broadcasters could sell eyeballs (viewers) to advertisers or subscribers to cable stations. It was already common in many households to have the TV set turned six or more hours a day, but how did these new networks attract a larger audience?
Cultivating the Audience:
One method was to prey upon people’s innate psychology. That persists in social media today. All news stations and weather channels made it seem that the act of not-tuning- in meant risking out on something valuable. Prior to 1980, stories deemed to be newsworthy were delivered in a regular package, at a set time. The morning or afternoon newspaper, and the evening news brought most people the same information at a predictable time. A news magazine like Time or Life, delivered more pictures and in-depth coverage but was published weekly. Today, the pictures are on the Internet, and people stay logged in because of the Fear of Missing Out or “FOMO”. So the early 24/7 channels capitalized on this.
Another method used to hook audiences to the 24/7 news cycle preyed on a psychological compulsion to be ‘first- to- know’. Viewers who followed the 24 hour cycle could feel confident that they were better informed with timely, up-to-date details. In their circle of friends, they might be an informed opinion-leader, similar to a social media influencer today.
A third method that hooked audiences to the 24/7 news cycle and weather was to make the public feel more fearful. This method is not as obvious. Stories that made the outside world seem scary and unpredictable encouraged people to depend upon the media for their safety but also tune in more often. The networks and weather channels learned to spin scary stories but also make them entertaining so that viewers were compelled to tune in longer and frequently.
New Times & New Audiences:
Today the 24/7 cycle has evolved. Even the most neutral, uninvolved member of the public is likely to provide feedback; perhaps just an occasional ‘up-arrow’ or a ‘down-arrow’ on a social media site. And even if they do nothing, the algorithm tracks how long they dwelled on a post, so that it can tailor more personalized content next time. Meanwhile, social media influencer participate in the news cycle as they post their opinions, make videos, or produce content of their own. When one-third of kids ages 18 to 29 get their primary news from TikTok, this information comes from a reinterpretation, not the original news source.
A second difference, also of note, is where people are viewing or watching. Today it’s largely mobile- people are hearing the news in cars and elevators. They will bring more fragmented attention as they are less likely to watch or read from a stationery spot, perhaps the kitchen table or living room. To get a viewer’s fragmented and precious attention, today’s news has to be quick, make a splash, and employ click-bait headlines. Embellishing a trend that started with the original 24/7 cycle, modern media will emphasize for viewers the dangers and risks “out there.”
We live in a time when Internet companies and media broadcasters have copious time and space to fill. But it’s a big task. The content hole renews itself daily and creators must do the work to fill it. It’s a plus for them when there is a natural disaster or a fast-moving news event, but a minus when a news story and its sources need to be vetted.
Meanwhile, it’s not surprising that a number of Americans are saying that they are turning off the news. They worry for their mental well-being. It’s not clear that the 24/7 cycle is healthier, on an individual or social level. This 24/7 news cycle is an active, ever-flowing source and when people bank on it, they can pulled far downstream.