This Just In: Breaking News Online (Finally) Takes Precedence For Traditional Media

One of Cingular’s ads has a savvy mobile user outdueling a newspaper reader when it comes up-to-date news. The reality: a lot of that mobile news and the news the same savvy guy is getting online comes from traditional media outlets using all of their resources to break news when it happens — and to update it as it happens. (Also, most of the details are still coming through in print, but that’s another story.) For instance, USA Today, which has this not quite breaking story, broke an exclusive on Barry Bond’s intention to retire next year online hours before the first print edition was available, then used the paper for more extensive coverage.
It’s framed as an editorial decision by those quoted but it’s really a pragmatic acknowledgement of the business need to get and keep a user’s attention.

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