Breaking News: Who Cares?

On second thought, maybe Chris Anderson has a point.  I just got this CNN Breaking News alert:

Canadian beauty Jillian Harris finally found what she was looking for a lover and a best friend when she giddily accepted a proposal from Chicago computer software consultant Ed Swiderski on the season finale of “The Bachelorette” Monday night.

Not only is this not news in any meaningful sense of the word but it isn’t even breaking.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Steve Verdon says:

    I had a power bar for breakfast, first time ever. Where’s my headline?

  2. JKB says:

    Perhaps “Breaking” isn’t an adjective but rather a verb in this usage?

  3. James Joyner says:

    Perhaps “Breaking” isn’t an adjective but rather a verb in this usage?

    Quite possibly

  4. Dave Schuler says:

    De gustibus. Nearly 9 million people watched The Bachelorette’s finale. Apparently, it’s important to them.

  5. James Joyner says:

    Nearly 9 million people watched The Bachelorette’s finale. Apparently, it’s important to them.

    Presumably not news, though?

    If, God forbid, Harris had keeled over and died since the show aired, I’d consider it legitimate breaking news.

  6. JKB says:

    Well, between what CNN touts as breaking news and what they ignore as news all together, I’d say the news is broke.