BBC vs CNN

Articles: Eurozone ministers 'back 130bn-euro bailout for Greece' (BBC)
Articles: Greece's fate uncertain as bailout talks drag on (CNN)

     The 24-hour news cycle arrived with the advent of television channels dedicated to news, and brought about a much faster pace of news production with increased demand for stories that can be presented as news, as opposed to the day-by-day pace of the news cycle of printed daily newspapers that the generations before us are so familiar with and still to some degree cling to. A high premium on faster would see a further increase with the advent of online news; those born in the past thirty years can relate and connect to this concept. Rather than get our news from the ink stained pages of newsprint, we venture to the internet, blogs, and the occasional viewing of CNN on election nights or a natural catastrophe. A complete news cycle consists of the media reporting on some event, followed by the media reporting on public and other reactions to the earlier reports.

      According to former journalists Bill Kovach and Tom Rosentiel, 24 hour news creates ferocious competition among media organizations for audience share. This, coupled with the profit demand of their corporate ownership, has led to a decline in journalistic standards. In their book Warp Speed: America in the Age of Mixed Media, they write that "the press has moved toward sensationalism, entertainmnet, and opinion" and away from traditional values of verification, proportion, relevance, depth, and quality of interpretation.

      The concept of the 24-hour news cycle has always been intriguing to me, however I had never experienced a delay in coverage between news services which impacted my interpretation; However, tonight when perusing news syndicates I came across similar news topics however with different content, dramatically different content. As of 10:30pm both CNN and BBC had news coverage on the Greece bailout talks in Europe, opening lines differed:

According to BBC: 

"The deal, which came after late-night talks in Brussels, is said to be worth 130bn euros (£110bn; $170bn)." 

According to CNN:

"Eurozone finance officials remained behind closed doors late Monday as a crucial round of talks over a second bailout for Greece looked set to run late into the night."

So which is it? Has there been a decision made? Is one news source skewing the data to make it appear as though there has been a decision? Has one source failed to detect a break in the news? There are so many potential reasons for the lapse in the news announcement on the part of CNN. 

Greece has struggled to meet the conditions of its May 2010 bailout and many eurozone governments have been calling for greater control over how any additional funds would be used, as well as increased oversight of the nation's budget policies. The concern is that if Greece defaults it will be forced to leave the euro currency union, a development that could have severe and unknowable consequences for the global economy. Thus the development of a bailout is significant for not only the Eurozone, but for the United States, Russia, China, and significant global trading partners.

In case you all were wondering, as I was when I opened the news article, Athens needs the funds to avoid bankruptcy next month, when maturing loans must be repaid. The plan, reportedly calls for Greece, in return, to undertake the reduction of its debts to no more than 121% of its GDP by 2020.
"The financial volume (of the Greek deal) is 130bn euros and debt-to-GDP (will be) 121%," one official in Brussels told Reuters news agency. In addition to further highlight the significance of the bailout, the euro rose to $1.3266 from $1.3185 on reports of the deal.