The concept of 24 hours news has been with us for a time and its implications for building, managing and protecting reputations is immense.
How long do you have to add your voice to an emerging story? Do you give a bad story more air to breathe by responding? Or do you wait, ignore it and hope that the speed of news sees a story get overtaken by another, move in another direction?
From the outside looking in, there are still major time points – morning programmes, lunchtime and evening news – and in this sense nothing has changed. We know to make news available at the best time possible and when it is most likely to be picked up. But, we all know that a story can grow and change as the news media seeks input from others, so constant monitoring of stories and their development (particularly online) is really important.
Every story will be taken on its own individual merits, but it is possible to be prepared.
