Both reporters and consumers of news are attracted to death and tragedy. Journalist and publisher William Randolph Hearst's adage goes like this: If it bleeds, it leads. Recently, the public has been voraciously following the horrible allegations leading to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs' trial, the widespread destruction of Hurricane Helene and the bloody, merciless conflict in the Middle East — the stories involving horrific incidents are the ones we often pay attention to the most.
Fixating on breaking news allows one to stay in tune with a world that is constantly exploding with unexpected events. Reading and watching breaking news cements one as an informed member of the public and connects us together through a shared consumption of abrupt headlines. However, we shouldn't just be swallowing scandals and instantaneous tragedies. We need to read all types of news.
We consume breaking news over other news stories likely because of how omnipresent it is. News breaks on social media, everyone talks about certain big headlines in classes or on lunch break; it gets in your face. A headline is thrust in front of your eyes depicting an event so horrible that you can't look away — nor do you want to.
Other news, however, doesn't function in the same way. To read day-to-day news involves seeking it out yourself. It involves perusing The News & Observer or digging through The Associated Press for a story in your free time, whereas breaking news slaps you across the face without you really asking for it. Instead of just visiting The New York Times' website for the Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword trifecta, add reading articles to that gauntlet.
Other news articles are necessary to read because you'll be able to understand the breakings far better, especially through smaller stories that contextualize the bigger headlines.
Further, reading regular news articles can improve writing skills, broaden knowledge bases, expose a multitude of perspectives, create awareness of social issues and instill greater worldliness. The more we read news, the more equipped we become in discerning credible reporting from fake or misleading sources. Consuming all types of news is an incredibly important step in becoming media literate and learning how to decipher the buckets of information dumped on us every day.
Feature stories and non-breaking news stories are often more accurate than breaking news. Because of the spontaneous nature of breaking stories, articles must be written quickly, often leading to errors and a lack of extensive, elaborative information. If breaking news is the only news an individual consumes, they're really only intaking hastily written stories assigned for timeliness.
The stories in the days that follow a breaking are just as crucial to read. It's one thing to read the breaking headline that Hurricane Helene made landfall, but it's entirely different to read stories about the people still without water or the long-term impacts of closed schools in majorly affected areas.
For those who claim that they live under a rock, don't know anything or lack street smarts, I have a simple solution: read the news. Being uninformed, sheltered and out of touch with the happenings of the world around us isn't something to parade. Yes, we're all busy with various aspects of life, but I try to tell myself that if I have time to doom scroll on Instagram Reels before bed and post on Yik Yak between classes, I can find time to read the news.
