Abstract:
Today we are breathing the air of information. Communication has become a necessity and it is fast evolving into a powerful social currency. Exchange of information is shaping the world around us by the minute. In such a dynamic set-up no other medium has risen in prominence than the television medium. One of the major factors behind its exponential rise has been the growth of 24x7 news channels.
News is a genre which is directly associated with the people. It may be that a news story is interesting or informative, that it directly affects us, that it makes us pause and think or evokes our compassion, anger or concerns. In a globalised world today, news is meant to represent an interface between the public and ideas about ‘the truth out there.’ The Breaking News format is the most exploited news presentation technique by news channels which are on the air the whole day. The format boasts of speed, exclusivity and news of immediate relevance. The reality of it is something quite different. Breaking news stories work on people’s limited literacy and naivety that leads them to believe further that what they see is real and every new piece of information is breaking news. The viewers get a concatenation of news without following up the previous day’s stories and a false sense of ‘enlightenment.’ The excessive dramatics and cleverly devised presentation strategy behind the Breaking News phenomenon have altered the profile of a news programming. Such a trend is showing signs of long term impact on how people take news and how it impacts our understanding of the world.