Howard Kurtz respectfully disagrees with my argument about scoops and exclus.
Easy for Jeff to say. In today’s wired world, letting slip that you’re working on a competitive story would lead to an immediate rip-off: by other publications, by bloggers, by talk radio hosts, you name it. Worse, they would steal your story–or just talk it to death–without benefit of the careful research you did or the nuances you’ve mastered. More often than not, it would be a cartoon version. Then critics and bloggers would start ripping your work before it’s even been published , and the partisans denouncing you for even attempting to investigate such-and-such if it’s perceived as negative to their side.
No thanks.
