When News Breaks

When I decided to write about this topic, I was reminded of the old tag line for The Daily Show:

I've been signed up for the Breaking News Alerts from the Boston Globe for years, and in fact have often mocked them for how often their idea of "breaking news" involves the Red Sox or Patriots, and not some larger news item. But lately, it seems like the quantity has really gone up, and today I decided to look into it. Perception or reality?

When I delete an email, it stays in the file for 30 days, so I could search and see how many have come in during that time period. The total is, wait for it, 45. Doesn't that seem like a lot? I broke it down further, and considered 25 of them political (20 of those being related to Trump or his policies, or protests relating to same).

And of the 25, 19 of them have come in the last 13 days, which is since the inauguration, and just six of them had come in the 17 days before that.

25 political news alerts in 30 days.

6 in 17 days under President Obama.

19 in 13 days under President Trump.

It really is that crazy lately. Nice to know it isn't my imagination.

There were 8 sports-related ones, by the way, mostly Patriots of course, with the Super Bowl and all, but also a Red Sox one relating to players getting in their Hall of Fame. Apparently, Bruins who made the All-Star Team don't count as breaking news. Ahem.

Speaking of the Bruins, they managed to hold on for the win last night. Can they do it again tonight? The game doesn't start until 8 (stupid NBCSN and their stupid Wednesday Night Rivalry), which means it will finish after I'm in bed, but I'll find out in the morning. Fingers crossed, I guess. Meanwhile, Marchand was the NHL's second star for January, that's kind of nice!