ABSTRACT
Push notifications or news alerts appear on the home screens of smartphones alerting the user to breaking news, pushed by news organisations to drive readership and clicks in order to grow the business – or at least to slow its economic decline. The fact that these alerts of exciting news, expressed in the language of high emotion are announced on a portable communication device that occupies a place close to the user’s identity, and accompanied by a sound that is designed to incite the user to check their phone, all combine to raise the temperature of news. News apps operate in a highly competitive environment competing for attention on smartphones – a reminder that news does not exist in a vacuum and it must compete for attention in an environment where choices give people a sense of control. Newsgathering could influence commercial interests; but never the other way round.
