SOURCES: The 24-Hour News Cycle is Dead

We’re sad to report that the 24-hour news cycle has died, according to sources.

Survived by good friend Wolf Blitzer, the 24-hour news cycle had a solid 30-year run that begat such staples as the news ticker and election night holograms.

No longer do we measure news in hours. So why bother with a 24-hour news cycle? In it’s place, we welcome the 86,400-second news cycle. Same amount of time, many more opportunities.

This new moniker is better suited to describe our current media digestion habits, in which every news outlet, blog and Twitter-er is doing their best to dominate a news story one second at a time. Whomever can shout the loudest each second of each day, owns that second and the thousands of retweets, Likes and traffic that go with it. While it was once a faux pas to be incorrect, as long as you are first to proclaim such inaccuracies, accountability is forgotten. Whereas the media once balked at a story because of a lack of exclusivity, they’ll instead write seven articles on a subject for search-friendly headlines and pageviews.

Think yellow journalism cubed.

And no story has more accurately played out this new news cycle than the courting of NBA superstar and current free agent LeBron James. And I didn’t realize it until last Friday when I made a guest appearance on the WEWS 5 p.m. news to discuss the brouhaha. As fans across the U.S. live and die with every rumor via Twitter and I was sweating on live TV, it became clear that social media has had a profound impact on how news is disseminated.

Two things will happen in the 86,400-second news cycle that only happened sporadically before (and the first is fairly obvious): When you have no new information, inundate the masses with filler and non-news from “sources,” to pass the time.  And by “sources,” we don’t mean the ones of Woodward and Bernstein’s yesteryear. We mean “sources” as in “I just made this up to get noticed” and “Really, I just asked the security guard.” The New York Times is no longer the standard of journalism, everyone wants to be the New York Post.

Per esempio: among the things we were updated on during LeBronageddon from “sources:”

• Daily wardrobe updates of James and his suitors
• The types of plane James’ suitors used while flying into CLE
• The type of sandwiches ordered into meetings
• Which specific teams were NOT to cross paths in the hallway
• That those two specific teams did, in fact, cross paths

While it would be easy to blame social media or bloggers in general for the current media landscape, the LeBrodyssey has produced more contradictory stories, quotes and interviews from the traditional sports media than anyone. While we could blame the lost iPhone 4 saga on those silly, unethical bloggers, no one has been holding the traditional media accountable for their predictions or sources during episodes of The LeBrachelor.

The second thing that happens in the 86,400-second news cycle: the media gives the newsmaker, the gatekeeper, way too much power.

Yes, this stuff happened in bits and pieces prior to LeBronukuh, but we now live in the world where the chief newsmaker is granted a 1-hour free-for-all to push their agenda, no questions asked. Where merely confirming their existence on Twitter is breaking news. How many hard-hitting questions do you think ESPN will ask of LeBron during their patty cake session?

For companies big and small, B2B and B2C, manufacturing and retail, there are lessons to be learned from this passing into the 86,400-second news cycle.

1. You have even less control over the news than yesterday. While the lesson from above may be “Transparency is only relevant when you’ve done something wrong” or “Hold back as much information as possible and be rewarded” these are not lessons your company can use effectively in the long-term. Have PR and social media protocols in place that prepare your company as much as possible for the unknown.
2. Be relevant and targeted. It would be easy to say, “The iIternet is a sea of CAPS LOCK, so start yelling.” But you’re not Apple or LeBron James.  Instead, let this at least be the wake-up call that sending out a press release is not going to bring you news coverage or sales. Make your company relevant to what is actively being discussed (and don’t stretch it).
3. We’re not going back. To use every overused cliche possible: you can’t unring that bell or put the toothpaste back in the tube. This is the media landscape we live in, and it has ADHD. Online PR strategies will need to incorporate the technology most relevant to your audience.

For more thoughts on the genre, check out our other posts on online PR or check out our online public relations capabilities.

Flickr photo courtesy of berther