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Unbelievably it was ‘BREAKING NEWS’ this week on media outlets that Sir Keir Starmer was rejigging his team of advisers involving people even they admit are completely unknown, yet our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry always believed that this label should only be employed rarely, and even then just put on significant stories, but items this year have revealed a continued absurd use of the term, with one Cardiff-based news website even having a ‘Breaking news editor’!
I hold my head in my hands.
This week it was ‘BREAKING NEWS’ that posts were being rejigged inside Number 10, involving figures that even the journalists reporting the shake up confess are completely unknown!
On Monday we were told breathlessly that the Prime Minister was changing the roles of his top team, naming people you have probably never heard of.
Sky News reported ‘live’: “Who is Darren Jones, the MP appointed to a new senior role in Downing Street?
Darren Jones has been appointed to a new role in Downing Street, working as the chief secretary to the prime minister.
“But who is he?
“Jones has been serving in government for the last 13 months as chief secretary to the Treasury, effectively the chancellor’s deputy”.
Even I am amazed by this. It’s coming to something when even those reporting an event as ‘BREAKING NEWS’ say one of the key people is totally anonymous, so they have to explain WHO HE IS!
This is the most incredible example of, regrettably, a growing trend, with almost any story given as ‘BREAKING NEWS’.
On the BBC we heard as ‘BREAKING NEWS’ that: ‘Prince William says he and Catherine “shocked and saddened” by death of his ex-nanny’s stepson Edward Pettifer in New Orleans attack. The 31-year-old was among 14 people killed in a vehicle attack on New Year’s Day.
‘His stepmother Alexandra Pettifer, previously known as Tiggy Legge-Bourke, cared for Prince William and Prince Harry in the 1990s…”‘
The original story was extremely upsetting, but was it really ‘BREAKING NEWS’ that the Prince of Wales was “shocked and saddened” by ”death of his ex-nanny’s stepson Edward Pettifer‘”?
Unfortunately this ridiculous example follows a long and ignoble tradition. The General Election (GE) last year saw any number of stories given as ‘BREAKING NEWS’, most of them undeserved. The crowning glory came for me with other less good results, and: “Breaking News PM needs to own terrible election results and change course, former home secretary Suella Braverman tells BBC – follow live”.
This came after a succession of bizarre uses of the phrase. They can’t do a ‘soft’ lunar landing, there is renewed violence in Ecuador, and a politician makes a completely vacuous comment on television, were all stories which have been offered as ‘BREAKING NEWS’. The first one is fairly typical of this kind of nonsense.
It is, I’m afraid, pretty tedious, but stay with me because that is kind of the point! It was declared in the ‘report’: ‘A US lunar lander has “no chance” of making a soft landing on the Moon due to a fuel leak, the company behind the mission says. Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic said there was enough propellant to operate its Peregrine lander as a spacecraft’.
It was also ‘BREAKING NEWS’ that Lord Cameron had said to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg: “We are prepared to back our words with actions”, and on the same show, came further ‘BREAKING NEWS’ that Sir Keir had proclaimed he would consider supporting further action in response to a war elsewhere “on its merits”.
It was ‘BREAKING NEWS’ that men had broken into a television studio in Ecuador. Meanwhile the BBC had ‘reported’ as well: “BREAKING NEWS Post Office boss Nick Read to face MP’s questions over scandal…”. That day we also had from them: BREAKING NEWS Fujitsu’s global chief executive tells BBC the firm is sorry…”. The corporation gave us more ‘BREAKING NEWS’ one week declaring: “Oppenheimer leads Bafta Film Award nominations with 13…”.
Then there’s use of the term in Royal news – and the ‘Tiggy Legge-Bourke’ story is not the first. The BBC published on the same day as Oppenheimer: “Breaking News: Prince William visits his wife Kate in hospital after she had abdominal surgery”.
But these are only a few examples, because there have been many more. A completely bland statement from a company or anonymous ‘celebrity’ – ‘BREAKING NEWS’. A totally empty comment by a person in the headlines which gives NO new information whatsoever – ‘BREAKING NEWS‘. The result of, or evidence given in, a pretty standard court case – ‘BREAKING NEWS‘.
Another instance came as Vladimir Putin started a news conference, and I received an ‘urgent’ news update that his war aims were “unchanged”. It was ‘BREAKING NEWS‘ supposedly, that: ‘Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Russians that peace with Ukraine will only take place “when we achieve our objectives”. Presumably we will receive more ‘BREAKING NEWS‘ like this!
A few hours later we also had from the giant corporation as ‘BREAKING NEWS‘ – “LIVE ‘High probability’ Gaynor Lord went into Norwich river – police”.
On that same day there was, too, the result of a court case in Scotland, which was reported, of course, as ‘BREAKING NEWS‘.
It was seemingly very important we were told that: “Two men and a woman have been found guilty of the murder of a schoolgirl in West Dunbartonshire more than 27 years ago. The ‘BREAKING NEWS’ report added excitedly: “The body of Caroline Glachan, 14, was discovered on the banks of the River Leven in Renton on 25 August 1996”.
But the disease has affected our sports departments too! We heard as ‘BREAKING NEWS’ from the BBC that Everton and Nottingham Forest had both been charged with breaching financial rules.
On the day of the Scottish story, we were also provided with an ‘urgent’ sports update by them (as well as from other media outlets), about a woman referee taking charge of a football match. Reporters stated as ‘BREAKING NEWS‘: “Rebecca Welch will become the first female referee for a Premier League fixture when she officiates Fulham’s match against Burnley on 23 December.
Two days later we were given as ‘BREAKING NEWS’ the latest information about the UK’s entry for Eurovision. It was seemingly vitally important that we were told: “Pop star Olly Alexander will represent the United Kingdom at next year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden”. The ‘BREAKING NEWS‘ report continued excitedly: “The former Years and Years frontman will hope to improve on the UK’s disappointing performance this year, when Mae Muller came second to last”.
But the problem with putting ‘BREAKING NEWS’ on almost any fatuous story, is that people think: ‘Oh they say this all the time, and it doesn’t mean anything’, so the information in a story which might actually be important ‘BREAKING NEWS’ will lose its value and won’t be read.
I was always taught as a journalist the label should be used sparingly and even then in just giving significant news. But if it isn’t read then journalism is seen as worthless.
Perhaps I should try it. “BREAKING NEWS – Phil Parry is doing another story about the use of ‘BREAKING NEWS!’”…
Details including the REAL stories (which were not all ‘BREAKING’) Phil has covered in his long journalistic career, as he was gripped by the rare neurological condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order it now!
