On Journalism: The Futility of "Exclusive" Scoops

The futility of "exclusive" scoops in today's media cycle is, well, futile...

Last week, the Daily Online Examiner's article Major Newspapers Claim Right To Keep Scoops Exclusive described the futile and somewhat disingenuous recent filing of a legal brief by a handful of major US newspapers in an effort to prevent rival publications from picking up and putting out their “scoops”.

The argument is based on a case before federal appellate court wherein an online publication published a bank’s stock recommendations before some of the bank’s clients were notified. The larger implication, though, is that mainstream publications like the New York Times or the Washington Post (two newspapers that have joined the brief) would have the ability to prevent their exclusive stories from being reprinted (or, more likely, reposted online) by their competitors.

Good luck with that.

My view is that such an action has no basis and no precedent, and effectively undermines the public good achieved by the rapid dissemination of information, no matter who breaks it.

Journalism has always been in a bit of a bind in this area. It is called the Fourth Estate for its immense public value as a government watchdog, yet to facilitate that function journalism must be as removed from government control and influence as possible. This means journalism must be a for-profit, capitalist enterprise, which in turn means there must be stiff competition.

Once again, this means journalism must be a for-profit, capitalist enterprise, which in turn means there must be stiff competition. Got that?

Exclusives, scoops, and being the first to break a story are ways of achieving competitive advantage in this market, and so of course it's understandable that those organizations devoting the most resources to the gathering of news want to protect this advantage. Finder keepers, losers weepers.

But doing so in this way nearly nullifies journalism’s Fourth Estate status. AJ Liebling once wrote that “the function of the press in society is to inform, but its role in society is to make money.”

The latter part of this dichotomy may be more and more difficult in the internet age, but the former has never been as important.