I turned on the news this morning, and was greeted with the Breaking News[sup]TM[/sup] that Hillary Clinton announced that she’s running for president. Um, excuse me? Haven’t we known this for several months now? I thought Breaking News was when a major earthquate hit somewhere, or planes had just hit a famous pair of skyscrapers, or something like that. This isn’t an isolated incident, either. The other day, one of the internet news sites had Breaking News that the governor of New Mexico had become the 916th Democrat to announce his candidacy. What the heck? Are these guys bribing the news outlets to inflate the importance of their stories? Do we have so little real news that this is best the news shows can do?
To my knowledge, Hillary never formally announced that she would be seeking nomination for the Presidency until very recently. Maybe you can point us to her announcement from several months ago?
The key word in your sentence here is “formally.” I don’t think there’s a person in the entire United States who hasn’t known since 2004 that Ms. Clinton would be running for President.
So, I agree with the OP. Why is this “breaking news?”
I thought Diceman’s hairy backside was the breaking news. 
Check the Pit and you’ll find one person who didn’t. And I actually found another on a different site. So there were at least two people who didn’t think she would run.
The fact that she’s officially filed to run is breaking news. Sure, everyone assumed it, but she did not make the announcement until Saturday, and she could have decided not to. This makes it official.
Though why it’s breaking news today when the announcement was Saturday. It may be that she actually filed the paperwork.
I believe you are confusing “news” with “wind.”
d&r
Me, too. Here I was, opening this thread, thinking for sure there’d be pics involved.
Reminds me of one morning when I went to cnn.com where their bright yellow Breaking News banner informed me that Paris Hilton was arrested for DUI.
ooooooooooookay…
Absodamnlutely! There should never be any breaking news about hairy white backsides that does not include pics!
It was Breaking News® because something has to be BN®, and it was a slow day. It has become customary, even for the most obvious candidates, to announce an exploratory committee (for early fundraising,) then formally announce the candidacy. Sam Brownback seems to have formally announced before the exploratory. That might show that he’s an unpolished rookie, or it might show that his evangelical base is warmed up and ready.
The Breaking News® in this thread seems to be that Swampbear is itching for some polar bear porn. Ooo, those platinum blonds! 
Sorry guys, no pics of my hair white backside will be forthcoming 
I’m not arguing that Hillary’s announcement isn’t news, but Breaking News? “Breaking News” implies drama. Menace. Tragedy. Stunning unexpected events. “Hillary Clinton confirms what 99% of Americans have been expecting for years now,” doesn’t qualify.
Not really. It implies an ongoing story that new today. Hillary made the announcement, and the news is partly the discussion of the implications of this, as well as the process of filing the papers.
In this case, most of the “breaking” part of it is pundits talking about it, but it’s still breaking news.