Twitter has partnered with CNN as part of an initiative designed to help journalists cover breaking news. The microblogging platform is often the first source of breaking news for many and with the help of New York-based startup Dataminr, CNN hopes to be able to better analyze the flow of data to assist reporters in finding the most accurate information and relevant photos as events unfold.

Dataminr has managed to raise $48 million since its inception five years ago. Up to this point, the firm has worked exclusively with clients in the financial sector. Specifically, they've been able to assist banks and hedge funds in making investment decisions based on real-time data from social media and the like.

For journalists, Dataminer has a new tool that is able to chop up news across Twitter into different feeds and notify reporters at their desk or out in the field via mobile alerts. The idea is that since Twitter is on the breaking edge of news, the service may be able to tip off journalists about a story before they would otherwise hear it from traditional sources.

It's not just about scanning Twitter for the most hits about a particular event, however. As Dataminr CEO Ted Bailey points out, there is a very different set of algorithms that help them determine if information spreading on Twitter will move markets, as opposed to becoming a big news story.

The partnership appears to have been deployed in-house by CNN months ago but is just now being announced.