News alert is a television or radio news announcement of an urgent, often time-sensitive event that requires immediate attention. It is typically accompanied by a countdown sequence or other similar cue to allow station affiliates to switch over to the national news feed and to introduce a breaking news reporter, who then delivers updated information on the story. Increasingly, breaking news is pushed out via push notifications and social media updates. The use of these methods raises important ethical considerations around accuracy and sensationalism.
A breaking news alert is also known as a “newsflash” or a “special report.” In the past, such events were deemed to warrant an interruption of current non-news programming and usually aired during primetime, with the exception of severe weather events which prompted local stations to interrupt regular broadcasts for live coverage. Breaking news can be delivered through an on-air network breaking news segment, through a special teleprompter or news crawl, or in the case of a large-scale disaster, a special, dedicated feed is created and distributed to local station affiliates.
An efficient way to monitor mentions of your client, competitor or industry keywords online is to set up Google Alerts, which will send you emails when they appear on the web. Whether your organization is trying to generate buzz for an upcoming event or simply wants to be more proactive about PR, creating eye-catching media alerts can help you get your name out there and increase viewer engagement.