24-hour news cycle

The 24-hour news cycle (or 24/7 news cycle) is the 24-hour investigation and reporting of news or informational content, typically by for-profit media agencies engaged in mass communications. The proliferation of mass media and the growth of the cable television market in recent decades has increased competition for audience and advertiser attention, prompting agencies to seek to deliver the latest news in the most compelling manner possible in order to remain ahead of competitors. Television, radio, print, online and mobile app news media all have many suppliers that want to be relevant to their audiences, principally by delivering the news first.

Although all-news radio stations had operated for decades prior, the 24-hour news cycle truly arrived with the advent of cable television channels dedicated exclusively to news in the 1980s. This shift brought about a much faster pace of news production, and an increased demand for continuous reporting with real-time updates. This stood in marked contrast to the slower pacing of the news cycle seen previously in printed dailies. The high premium on immediate coverage would further increase with the advent of online news.

A complete news cycle consists of the media reporting on an event, followed by it reporting on public and organizational reactions to previous reports. The advent of 24-hour cable and satellite television news channels and, in more recent times, of news sources on the World Wide Web (including blogs), has considerably shortened the timeframe within which this process occurs.