We PR people have heard for years how news cycles have changed dramatically — how developments are reported within minutes….and we saw this first-hand this morning. NE Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was involved in a Back Bay car crash. It happened around 6:30am — during the height of morning drive-time sports radio. Within no time, the hosts at WEEI were talking this up — after getting inside reports from police sources. Boston.com was quick with a report — and now, just hours later, there are videos up on the Boston.com site (some contributed by the public no doubt — another trend the meda and PR are seeing all the time). I haven’t done a complete check, but I have to think all the news outlets were on this story — well before the PR folks for the Patriots had a chance to jump in (I did notice an item on the Patriots website). Again, PR people have been living this “crashing” of news cycles every day for quite awhile — watching announcements that used to spread out over weeks or months be squeezed into hours and days; having just minutes to respond to a crisis. This morning was a real-world reminder for PR pros…and for football fans.

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