‘Breaking news is a lie,’ Louisville news station asserts
Fox’s Louisville affiliate, WDRB, dismissed the phrase ‘breaking news’ as a marketing gimmick and vowed to stop using the term in its new ‘Contract with our Viewers.’
According to Louisville Fox affiliate WDRB, that’s exactly what has happened to the term “breaking news.”
“It’s an advertising trick, a gimmick that isn’t based on anything,” the announcer says in an ad the station has been running. “‘Breaking news’ is seldom actually breaking and, quite often, isn’t even news.”
In big block letters, the video states, “Breaking news is a lie.”
The station issued a “Contract with our Viewers” that includes a vow never to use the term “breaking news” in its reporting. Other promises in the contract include “calm and rational” weather reporting, no mimicking competitors, and valuing being right over being first.
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today
Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.
