When Jesus created news

This is not a religious post, so bear with me.

According to the Christian lore, three wise men that studied the charts of stars set on camelbacks to find and pay their respects to the King that the star denoted; they followed the star’s path in the skies until it pointed to a barn in Bethlehem. There, they found Jesus as a newborn and presented him with gold, frankincense and myrrh. Nearby peasants rejoiced and king Herod sent out an order to kill all newborns so that his kingdom would be preserved.

As there was no Facebook and no Twitter in these days – people were actually lucky if there was stone paving in some streets – the news of the birth of the King spread rather slowly.

But when was the point in time that the news was created? Was it:

When the wise men found out what the charts meant

When the star shone its light above Bethlehem

When the wise men gave Jesus their gifts

When the peasants found out a King was born

When king Herod slaughtered all newborns, missing Jesus

The truth is, each instance above is a separate piece of news. It denotes an event that was recorded. That’s what news is: a recorded action, with or without an absolute timestamp.

When you announce something on Twitter, describing it – that’s news. When you gloat about it on your Facebook page – that’s news. When your wife talks about how her hubby did this or that in her profile on any social medium, sharing it with her circle of friends, that becomes news.

Nowadays, news is tidbits of information that once defined they can’t be put back in the bag. Or can they?

The best way to preserve the privacy of an event or an achievement, a purchase, sale or other transaction is never make it public. By sharing the information with at least one more party other than yourself, you are risking its transformation into news.

When Jesus created news there was no Facebook, no Twitter – and people were more direct in their conversations.

Happy holidays.