The consequence of 24 hour news requires that the audience carefully evaluate which "phase" of the news they are hearing. For your entertainment and information, I submit the following:
PHASE 1: FACT FREE (pervasive)
A journalist once told me, "I could do a lot of painstaking investigative research OR I could just report something someone tells me. My job pays the same either way!". Fact Free reporting looks like this: CNN is reporting that other news outlets are saying, "______". You fill in the blank. Fact free content is when the news is the news. The only fact here is that someone is saying something. Whether what they are saying is factual is not relevant.
PHASE 2: FACTUAL (rare)
This is when what is reported is a true fact- duly confirmed by independent, knowledgeable sources. This rare event is difficult to detect because usually the fact is embedded inside someone's opinion about what you should think about the fact. The fact is like the chewy chocolate surpise inside a Tootsie Pop- you have to do a lot of sucking and licking to get to the good part.
PHASE 3: FACTUAL SPECULATION (common)
This is when the time available for broadcast exceeds the time needed to report the facts. News networks know that they cannot continously repeat the same facts over and over while retaining an audience. So, they bring in "experts" who speculate on "what might happen next" given the facts at hand. They speculate on the facts and consequently their speculation become the news.
PHASE 4: SPECULATIVE FACTUALIZATION (undetectable)
You move to phase 4 when the speculation in phase 3 is repeated so many times that now it becomes accepted as fact even though it didn't actually happen. By this time, all reality is lost, no one can separate fact from fiction. Since no one can confirm a speculatized fact, the best a news agency can do is report on who is saying what. This returns us back to PHASE 1.
If you've ever heard a news anchor refer to the "News Cycle". This is what they really mean.
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