Search Results (the scoop)

The Gawker Media-owned blog Gizmodo  bewitched millions of people after it bought an iPhone prototype and posted pictures of the phone on the Web. The idea of buying a scoop, a practice called “checkbook journalism,” is highly criticized in the media world. But Gawker founder Nick Denton isn’t sure why. “It’s hardly surprising that Web journalists should be fast, competitive, ruthless, sensationalist — and willing to do most anything for the story,” he …

If you’re watching the Winter Olympics and pounding out tweets about the action — or inaction, given the weather and all — the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) might be reading them. “[DHS] on Friday filed a privacy impact statement that revealed it is monitoring user activity on social media sites like Twitter, as well as posts and comments and a number of Web sites, to thwart potential terror threats and get information on possible disaster situations,” reported The P…

In Australia, drug maker Merck is embroiled in a class action lawsuit over its painkiller Vioxx. During the trial, which the New York Times said Australians are following like a soap opera, lawyers are drawing back the curtain on Merck’s marketing tactics. “The revelations in court testimony and defense evidence include accusations that Merck’s Australian affiliate circulated a marketing publication in the guise of an independent medical journal for doctors and countered safety concerns…

The  story burning up the airwaves this morning is the website WikiLeak’s release of 90,000 classified intelligence documents about the Afghan war. The organization gave the documents exclusively to three publications: The New York Times , London’s Guardian , and Germany’s Der Spiegel . This morning, media watchers are asking, Why didn’t Wikileaks release the info on its own website and hog the glory? It was all about scoring coverage, reports Media Life . “The main sti…

Will the embargo — when PR professionals give reporters a scoop under the condition that they publish at the same time — become a thing of the past? Several high profile news outlets ( The Wall Street Journal , TechCrunch ) have banned them, while many other journalists have said they don’t accept embargoes. This unraveling of the embargo presents the PR industry with a conundrum. “What’s at stake here is a sacred bond between reporter/blogger and PR,” PR pro Brian Sol…

Big scoop from All Things Digital ’s Peter Kafka. It seems Twitter is kicking around a feature that will enable users to promote their accounts, which would theoretically bump up their follower count. Kafka referred to off-handedly as a “Promoted Tweeter” product. How would Twitter charge for this product? “Some obvious possibilities: Twitter could charge users based on the number of followers they acquired, or simply based on the exposure their Twitter accounts received,&#82…

Ever heard of a company called [x+1]? (Yeah, weird name.) As part of a series about online privacy, The Wall Street Journal published an investigation today about the company that’s sobering, maybe even chilling. Scoop is companies hire [x+1] to help determine if you’ll be a good customer before you’ve shared any information with the company. How do they do it? “Firms like [x+1] tap into vast databases of people’s online behavior — mainly gathered surreptitiously by tracking…

A blog post from The Palmetto Scoop , which was picked up by Mashable , shows an awkward billboard for a TV news station. The billboard has a picture of three of the station’s news reporters alongside a “Right Now on Twitter” feature that shows real time tweets. In one instance, the “Right Now on Twitter” portion said, “3 Accused of Gang Rape in Monroeville,” which is next to the picture of the three anchors. Yeah, awkward.

Got a hot story for The New York Times digital news editor? Here’s what you should do: compose a letter, stuff it in an envelope, seal it with a kiss, affix a stamp, drop it in the nearest mailbox and wave goodbye. Yes, Times Digital News Editor Jim Roberts, the man who oversees the Web newsroom, prefers to be contacted by mail. “Next time we’ve got a scoop, we may just be forced to move that plant in the window and go meet with Bob Woodward instead,” wrote The NYTPicker blog. (Thanks t…