Bill Farr writes on MayorSam: "The term "scoop" was archaic when I was still alive. The term "exclusive" is now more commonly used in newsrooms, indicating you’re alone on a very good story."
Race Card writes:
When was the last time you were in a newsroom? Reporting on a council or school board meeting? How many clips do you have?
Because when I was reporting last year on a very heated campaign for a mid-size Gannett paper , my line editor couldn’t shut up about the scoops we got, which made national press, including the Sunday news rounds.
Exclusives are often related to non-print media. Maybe you’ve been watching too much Anderson Cooper. His "exclusives" are often the fodder of ratings rival, Dan Abrams.
Incidentally, there is also an active usage of this term. One can be "scooped."
Newspapers are tragically slow to change. Hence, the catastrophic decline in sales. The old, staid culture is impossible to move without lots of people dying. Language is the last to change – just after the Windows 98 operating systems many newsrooms still employ.
Trust me, every newsroom from here to Bangladesh has more old codgers than young technophiles. Bend one of these guys’ ears about his best scoop, and pull up a chair. You’ll be there for a while.
