Breaking News: does it get your attention?

Breaking News: does it get your attention?

Topic Author: Sarah Carlson

Posted: 7:36 AM May 28, 2008

Replies Posted: 17 comments

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Breaking News: does it get your attention?

Channel 15 is a leader in Breaking News and we're proud of it. In the morning, we have a crew scrambling behind the scenes to get new information, video, you name it, when it warrants. Our evening shows often open up with a "Breaking News" story ... and it sure seems Madison has more of them related to crime than in years past.

My question for our fabulous viewers is.... what do you think about the label "Breaking News?" Does it make you stop feeding the dog or cooking dinner to see what the deal is? I'm at home at 5pm getting dinner on the table for my kiddos, and it works every time for me. Just curious if other news junkies agree.

Posted by: Doug Location: Mount Horeb
As long as the Station does NOT over do it..... "The Weather Game" in Madison has over done it especially breaking into Programming and staying on way past their welcome - understand it's competitive; but....DDP

Posted by: Mike Location: McFarland
I think the "breaking news" headline is over used. It isn't breaking news if it happened 6 hours ago, breaking news means it is/just happened. If you are going to cut into tv shows with 6 hour old breaking news that really gets me upset. Put this on your 15.2 station only and don't interrupt regular programing unless it is happening at the current time. If you have reported on it during your normal news show and then you break in with the same breaking news as before it is no longer "breaking". On the flip side if it is something that is going on currently and is truly breaking news, cut into the normal broadcasting to bring it to us.

Posted by: C Location: Madison
The "Breaking News" label is great...if it really is breaking. So many times, I've looked up from what I was doing to find that it was something that was reported earlier. Therefore, it seems to be a superficial way to grab attention (and it annoys me). I agree with another person on this blog: quite frankly, it reminds me of 9/11. The same goes for the national news--whenever I hear the musical cue, I think it's something horrendous on a national level.

Posted by: Don Location: Arlington
Hey Ted, breaking news over an accident on some no-name street in some small-a** town is NOT breaking news. Maybe the next time I mow my yard I should alert the TV stations for that breaking news. Unless it is life threatening or darn close to it, spare me the "breaking news" crap. I am 42 so am I in the "younger " generation according to you. If so....THANKS!

Posted by: John Location: Madison
Well stated, Sara! As another Generation Y member, I couldn't agree more! It's nice to read some intelligent comments.

Posted by: Farmers Wife Location: WI ILL Border
Just have to say your the best gal in the morning show (charlie might look cute in a dress!)Keep up the good work

Posted by: Sara Location: Madison
I take exception to what "Ted" had posted about this "new generation"- I fall into that demographic, and I take it upon myself to stay informed of current events as much as I can. Having said this, I've become conditioned to not pay attention to so-called "breaking news" because very often it's not anything of huge importance (note that I said "very often" and not "always") or (if I happen to be watching one of the bigger news networks) it's something that's just sensationalistic crap and not actual news (like a car chase in CA). This desensitizing of us to breaking news is obviously correlated to having access to news 24/7 virtually anywhere you look, and it's bad for actual journalism because networks no longer do any hard reporting. Instead everything, no matter how banal, is considered to be breaking news.

Posted by: Caissa Location: Milwaukee
As part of that "new generation" (I'm assuming you mean college students and the like), I'm going to have to sadly agree. Even though a lot of my peers watched the news, it only had to do with the election, not anything else. I'm not saying that everyone has to be as much into the news as, well, I am, but people should at least be informed. That's where I think that the "Breaking News" label does help.

Posted by: Ted Location: Janesville
The latest comments justify my statement. Most people don't give a crap unless it smacks them on the head. Guess who the first people to b=== will be when something affects them? This so called new gen. is going to crash and burn soon if they don't wake up. They don't want weather alerts, news alerts, what the heck play the Simpson's all day and our fabulous state of zombies would be happy.

Posted by: Bill Location: South Central WI
No, 'breaking news' doesn't get my attention any longer because you used it so much that the news wasn't really 'breaking' In fact, it's had the opposite effect, I stopped watching because of it, my wife and I would just laugh and turn the channel and watch re-runs of Reba. So, hopefully you will put 'breaking news' on the shelf and leave it there or save it for when the Pope unexpectedly shows up in Madison.

Posted by: Don Location: Arlington
I think the "breaking new" attention grabber is VERY LAME! Not just your station but ant news station. It is almost like bragging, "hey we got the story first" and most the time it is nothing major anyways. I usually ignore it if I am doing something anyways.

Posted by: Dar I always pay attention but it angers me if it is NOT news...just something I consider stupid

Posted by: Caissa Location: Milwaukee now
As a fellow news junkie (who also discovered 15 a little too late to get up in the mornings to watch it, 'cause now she's home, but anyway), I'd have to agree. It makes me look up from my homework or whatever I'm doing to see what's going on, so it does help. And I've noticed that some stations, like the one I watch in Milwaukee, tend to overdramatize the term when the story sometimes doesn't even need it, but from what I've noticed, you guys don't seem to do that at all. =)

Posted by: Ted Location: Janesville
I think it is great to get the attention of "casual" viewers. I know that when I'm cooking or whatever, when I hear "Breaking News" I stop and listen. I am always frustrated`about how many people don't even listen to the news at least once a day or bother to read a news paper. We have really dumbed down as a society and to hear "Breaking News" at least gets most peoples attention. I find people listen to the heart warming type stories which is great, but ignore news that could really be helpful.Ever wonder if our young folks listened more to "real" news, there wouldn't be as many murders, rapes and traffic accidents due to education from your station? Keep up the great work at NBC 15. When I was a kid, we had only news to watch at the dinner hour and we did fair a lot better than today's smart kids.

Posted by: Ace I think your Breaking News goes way over the top sometimes and gets overused. One I can remember was one about the Olympic torch canceling it's planned route for the day. I was getting ready for work and stopped what I was doing when I heard the Breaking News and thought to myself why is that Breaking News? I checked the national news websites when I got to work and it was barely mentioned. I think your breaking news should be limited to local news, fires, murders, major traffic/accident, etc. in the Madison area and let the world and national breaking news be handled by the network.

Posted by: James Location: Madison
If I ever hear "Breaking News", I continue with what I'm doing and try to block it out. On weekdays, NBC 15 has 4 1/2 hours of news. I understand people have different schedules, but there seems to be an oversaturate of "news" for what's actually happening in our community. CNN's website is notorious for this. BREAKING NEWS: SMOKING IS BAD FOR YOU! But I digress. All joking aside, it does concern me because if there is a truly BIG story, people might be inclined to ignore it. I'm obviously not a journalist, but it seem that the only time the "Breaking News" title should be used is when it directly affects people and they need to react to it (i.e. a tornado, shooting, etc.). Breaking News: I'm certain many people will disagree with this. More Breaking News: The self-promotion all three of the news stations do is quite annoying.

Posted by: Packer Fan Location: WI
In a word-yes, I will want to know what is going on. Also, quite honestly, in the back of my mind I am thinking "are we under attack?" ever since that memorable, awful day in September.