Even on quiet summer weekends, huge news stories spread to millions more swiftly than ever before

Phones blow up with text messages. News alerts chirp. Stories are always at your fingertips in a wired world. President Joe Biden's announcement, coming without warning on a slow summer Sunday, illustrates how swiftly news spreads these days. Millions of people, no matter what they had been doing, knew within minutes. It's faster than in past generations, in large part because most people carry a phone with a powerful computer in their hands at all times. That's made journalists even more aware than ever about the need for speed in their jobs along with the damage that can be caused if haste makes mistakes.