A
news anchor is in the midst of some dull story when they're handed a stack of papers from off-screen. They immediately turn their attention to this new story, often beginning with
"This Just In..."
The new story
is not necessarily plot relevant in any sense and
may just be there as a gag.
Sometimes seen as "Breaking News" on twenty-four hour news networks. Older programs might use "
We Interrupt This Program..." or "This was just handed to me...".
Often seen in
Kent Brockman News or as a buildup to
Deadline News.
Sub Trope of
We Interrupt This Program. Compare
Extra! Extra! Read All About It!, which is this for newspapers.
This just in: Examples!
open/close all folders
Comics
Film
Live Action TV
- Whose Line Is It Anyway? brings us this line in almost all the Weird Newscasters segments.
- The first episode of Dinosaurs opened with this news report: "A giant meteor is on a collision course with the Earth that will result in the extinction of all dinosaurs! ...This just in: No, it's not."
- Once on The Day Today, Chris would repeatedly interrupt Alan's sports news segment with breaking reports about John Major having punched The Queen.
- Parodied on Saturday Night Live in the early days, as Chevy Chase would often announce on the Weekend Update segment "This just in: Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead."
- Parodied on The Muppet Show when the Muppet Newsman was often injured by the stories he was reporting (while sitting behind a newsdesk).
- Leverage, "The Three Days of the Hunter Job": The news show is in the middle of the stock report when the mark, reporter Monica Hunter, bursts in and demands that they interrupt the broadcast so she can deliver an emergency bulletin. When she finds that her evidence is gone and starts raving about a government cover-up, the anchorwoman whose broadcast was interrupted turns to the camera and reports the breaking news that Monica Hunter has just had a nervous breakdown right there in the studio.
- Happens twice on Queer As Folk. The first time is during the mayoral election right at the end of season 3:
Newscaster: This just in: With 84% of the votes counted, it appears we can now declare that the new mayor of Pittsburgh is... Marvin Deekins.
- The second time is in season 5, when Brian is on his way to the airport and there's a radio announcement about the bombing of Babylon (which he is the owner of at that point), prompting him to order the driver to turn around.
Web Comics
- Parodied in this
Super Effective comic. This strip was made around the time Michael Jackson died.
Western Animation
- In one Rocko's Modern Life short, after a TV news chopper crashes while covering a traffic jam, an anchorman is handed a piece of paper to report further traffic delays on the roads caused by a helicopter crash.
- In The Fairly Odd Parents, Chet Youbetcha uses this to the point of it being a Catch Phrase.
