Understanding Breaking News from Viewer’s Perspective: A Phenomenological Approach

Number of news channels in Pakistan is increasing since the emergence of electronic media in the country and it get boost with the establishment of a regulatory authority PEMRA, which aimed at managing the content and issuing the licenses to all electronic media channels (including radio & TV). Emerging trends of providing news, information & knowledge creates a huge scope for news channels which further leads to the innovating ideas of news production. This trend gave birth to the concept of ‘Breaking News’, in which sudden news comes on the TV screen with eye catchy screen enhancements to attract majority of viewers. Keeping in view the effects of hard core news, this study wants to understand the meaning of the term ‘Breaking news’ from participant’s perspective. This research also aims at identifying the significance and impact of breaking news on viewers. This qualitative study is done through the unstructured interviews conducted with individuals with high news exposure. It is found from the results of the research that people perceive breaking news as sudden shock & information provided in a gist or summery. It is also found that individuals consider breaking news highly effective in providing immediate & recent information especially in bad law & order situation that makes them take extra safety measures & care. The results of this study suggests that media should show some sensibility and maturity in considering any news as breaking so as not to make the viewers desensitized toward it or to ignore it.