The Information Cycle is the progression of media coverage of a newsworthy event. The Information Cycle has a pattern that usually starts the day of the event with television, social media and web coverage. The week of the event, physical newspapers will usually cover it. The week after the event magazines such as Time and National Geographic will cover the story. As early as a month after the event, academic and scholarly journals will start publishing about the event. As early as a year later, books, government publications, and reference materials (such as encyclopedias) will cover the event.

For more information check out the UGL guide on the information cycle.