Professionals do know how to play the emotions of
the crowd and even traders who have put in a lot of effort can be struggling at that times.
IMHO if you want to play the news, you have to either be well prepared or you're good at making quick decision and can put on a trade within seconds.
If you're a long term trader, the news and the market's reaction can tell you a lot about the momentum of the instrument. I've had it with day trading, it doesn't suite me.