Stop press

{{Short description|Phrase}}

{{redirect|Stop the presses|other uses|Stop the Presses (disambiguation)}}

{{for|the 1935 revue Stop Press|As Thousands Cheer}}

{{For|the 1939 novel|Stop Press (novel)}}

{{refimprove|date=February 2021}}

File:Web-fed offset press printing newspapers.jpg

"Stop press" or "Stop the presses" is an idiomatic exclamation when significant information is discovered.{{cite news|last=Geary|first=David|date=2014-05-27|title=Stop the Presses!|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/times-insider/2014/05/27/stop-the-presses/|access-date=2021-02-04|issn=0362-4331}}{{cite book|last=Aziz|first=Inam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MYsLAQAAMAAJ&q=%22stop+press%22+%22meaning%22|title=Stop Press: A Life in Journalism|date=2008-03-27|publisher=OUP Pakistan|isbn=978-0-19-547576-0}}

The phrase stems from the printed news media industry. If the content of an issue needed to be revised just before, or during its printing the printing press was stopped and the content amended, such as by changing the plates or type, before restarting it. Reasons to stop the press might be to add a news item or correct an error. This could cause delay and expense, such as by necessitating that already printed copies be discarded, so was generally reserved for highly significant content changes such as the breaking of a very important news story.