Breaking news (beta)

​

Overview

Breaking news represents important news stories rapidly gaining traction across multiple sources. Our system identifies these stories through automated analysis of news coverage patterns, allowing you to discover high-impact events as they emerge.

A breaking news event is characterized by:

• Coverage from multiple different sources and authors
• Rapid publication within a short time frame
• Significant importance within a specific topic area

​

How it works

Our breaking news detection works through several interconnected stages:

When you query the /breaking_news endpoint, you receive the most representative article from each breaking news cluster. Results are ordered by cluster size, so the most widely covered breaking news appears first.

​

Breaking news endpoint

The /breaking_news endpoint provides access to breaking news stories through simple API calls.

​

Base URL

https://v3-api.newscatcherapi.com/api/breaking_news

​

HTTP Methods

• GET: Query parameters in the URL
• POST: Parameters in request body (JSON)

​

Request examples

curl -X GET "https://v3-api.newscatcherapi.com/api/breaking_news?theme=Business&include_nlp_data=true" \
  -H "x-api-token: YOUR_API_KEY"

​

Response format

The API returns a JSON object with the following structure:

{
  "status": "ok",
  "total_hits": 318,
  "page": 1,
  "total_pages": 318,
  "page_size": 1,
  "articles": [
    {
      "title": "Article Title",
      "author": "Author Name",
      "published_date": "2025-03-31 14:11:04",
      // ... standard article fields ...
      "breaking_news_event_id": "12520934405688386290",
      "breaking_news_articles_count": 766
    }
  ],
  "user_input": {
    // Echo of request parameters
  }
}

Each article in the response represents the top article from a unique breaking news cluster. The additional fields specific to the /breaking_news endpoint include:

• breaking_news_event_id: Unique identifier for the breaking news event/cluster.
• breaking_news_articles_count: Number of articles in this breaking news cluster.

​

Comparison with other endpoints

​

Use cases

The breaking news endpoint is valuable in several scenarios:

​

Timely information discovery

Media monitoring teams can quickly identify emerging stories without manually tracking multiple sources. When a significant event occurs, the breaking news endpoint immediately highlights it based on its sudden surge in coverage.

​

Content curation

Content teams can discover trending stories to feature in newsletters, websites, or apps. Instead of manually checking multiple sources, the breaking news endpoint automatically identifies stories gaining traction across the media landscape.

​

Market intelligence

Financial and business analysts can be alerted to significant events affecting markets, companies, or industries. By monitoring breaking news in specific business sectors, analysts can identify potentially market-moving information faster.

​

Crisis monitoring

Organizations can quickly identify emerging crises related to their industry, brand, or interests. The breaking news endpoint helps detect sudden increases in coverage about topics of concern, enabling faster response.

​

Related resources

• API reference: Get breaking news
• Clustering news articles