The News Cycle is Dead

The news cycle is dead. Long live "The Opinion Cycle."

So says Lee Ann Schreiber, ombudsman for ESPN. In a terrific piece on ESPN.com, Schreiber dissects various sports "controversies" and concludes that a) very little actual reporting was done but b) tons of opinions were spewed. She wrote:

"If you look at the proportion of airtime and cyberspace devoted to reporting fact versus delivering opinion on ESPN, ESPN.com and ESPN Radio, it is clear that the main function of sports news is to serve as the molehill on which mountains of opinion are built. We don't have news cycles anymore. We have opinion cycles."

This piece was all about sports, but the exact same point could be made about many other facets of public life, including politics, entertainment and business. The formula is simple: take one piece of information, give your opinion, wait for others to add their opinions, add your opinion about their opinion, and so on.

This is a great observation that has profound 21st century media relations ramifications. If we can no longer count on the facts driving coverage, what can we count on? An endless cycle of opinions?

There's almost always a tip at the end of a post like this, and this post is no exception: There are actually two tips:

1. Counter opinion with other opinions: Push interviews with supporters whose opinions support your position.


2. Change the story by injecting major new facts and information into the equation. There's no use having an opinion about an old set of circumstances.