When is 'breaking' news deemed to have 'broken'?

Question

I ask this in frustration at the seemingly endless repetitions from newscasters on 24 hour news stations, that a story is 'breaking news'!

Answer 1

I gotch on this one and, agree. I just answered the one from New Jersey that complained the three kids that got killed by execution didn't get enough media.
I don't know what station he watches but maybe he's speaking about the newspaper.
On CNN/Robin and Good Morning America: They repeat the news every fifteen minutes. I have to continually turn the stating to all the channels on HD TV to get a all around news report that isn't repetitious.
I was accused of "Playing Dumb" when I just get sick of the continual repeat coverage.

Answer 2

I agree with Cowboy. I turn on Fox 4 and for 3 hours it's repeticious.
One time they aired a house fire for 4 hours straight, saying the same thing over and over again with the repeated drum roll of Breaking News.
Everytime they break in with Breaking news through shows or programs i get very nervous and scared it may be another attack but then it can be some bullcrap story of a car being stolen and they play the clip of the car being chased for an hour straight - i can get the same damn scoop on Cops that aires 3x a night on Bravo lol

Answer 3

In terms of commercial TV news operations, "breaking news" is a "hook" used to keep you fixated on the screen while they try and sell you some more stuff. Eventually they segue to the "follow-up" segment which indicates that they have located some more video footage on the story.
The worst example I've seen in many years happened after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. For hours on end CNN kept showing the same looped, 30-second footage of a fire in the Marina in San Francisco. It's all they had. Meanwhile, no one had headed to Los Gatos to cover the almost utter destruction of their central business district.