The speed of news in Twitter (X) versus radio

Abstract

The rapid evolution of the Internet is reshaping the media landscape, with frequent claims of an accelerated and increasingly outraged news cycle. We test these claims empirically, investigating the dynamics of news spread, decay, and sentiment on Twitter (now known as X) compared to talk radio. Analyzing 2019–2021 data including 517,000 hour of radio content and 26.6 million tweets by elite journalists, politicians, and general users, we identified 1694 news events. We find that news on Twitter circulates faster, fades faster, and is more negative and outraged compared to radio, with Twitter outrage also more short-lived. These patterns are consistent across various user types and robustness checks. Our results illustrate an important way social media may influence traditional media: framing and agenda-setting simply by speaking first. As journalism evolves with these media, news audiences may encounter faster shifts in focus, less attention to each news event, and much more negativity and outrage.