Question: Where did the "Breaking News" phrase...

A random thought just popped into my head, as you may have guessed by the title of this thread, but this seemed the best place to ask.

Where did the phrase "Break News" come from, and why is it used so much? Just a random thought that will probably be answered in a few mins, ta.

A few minutes, a few weeks, it's all good

I believe the term 'Breaking News' was brought into common practice by CNN. However the concept of 'breaking the news' goes back a lot further than that.

Hope you don't think I'm hijacking your thread, Bail, but it's sort of related.

Over the past few years, I've noticed the shift from talking about the headlines at the start and end of bulletins, to the use of the phrase 'top stories' (which always manages to sound a bit 'dumbed down' to me). Anyone got a clue what brought this shift about?

Tsk, it goes for a few weeks, pops back up then gets nicked.

I "think" the top stories may be the main headlines that were read out at the "top" of the hour? Hence being a top story, only a guess.