For more context and news coverage of the most important stories of our day, click here:
» Subscribe to NBC News:
» Subscribe to Here’s the Scoop podcast:
Every day, NBC News helps people understand what’s happening and why it matters — through fact-based reporting, meaningful conversations, and powerful stories. From its leading news broadcasts — TODAY, NBC Nightly News, Meet the Press, and Dateline — to NBC News NOW, the 24/7 streaming news channel, plus chart-topping podcasts, the NBC News app, and NBCNews.com, NBC News keeps audiences informed and connected to the stories shaping our world.
Connect with NBC News Online!
NBC News App:
Breaking News Alerts:
Visit NBCNews.Com:
Find NBC News on Facebook:
Follow NBC News on Twitter:
Follow NBC News on Instagram:
Trending
A breaking news story is a news item of sufficient importance to interrupt regular, non-news programming on a television station, radio station or other broadcasting medium. The term is most commonly used in connection with major events that elicit nationwide coverage and require numerous stations to stop their normal programming for extensive, live reporting. It is often used in conjunction with a special graphic and distinctive music cue that alerts viewers to the fact that current programming is being interrupted. Breaking news reports may be a short segment or sustained over multiple hours and days. Before the advent of 24-hour news networks, stations only interrupted their regular programming for breaking news of a high severity, such as the assassination of a world leader. Since the introduction of these news networks, a number of stations have begun to use a special “Special Report” ticker during regularly scheduled programming, thereby lessening the need for a full interruption.
