Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Abusive! *EXCLUSIVE*

Naked Photos of the Queen!  *EXCLUSIVE*

*EXCLUSIVE* interview with Nancy Drew!

*EXCLUSIVE* documentation about the fall of Rome!

News outlets love to get an exclusive.  Day after day of covering the same thing and looking for an edge over the competition is tiring so when they can get an edge over their neighbor they take it.

But what is the proper use of the word "exclusive"?  If a reporter is the first one on the scene of an accident is he providing you exclusive coverage?  I suppose by definition he is right.  But when the second news truck shows up ten minutes later is he going to change his headline?

To me, it's an exclusive if a news outlet has obtained information that is not available to anyone else.  Maybe they purchased the rights to a photo.  Maybe they interviewed someone that agreed not to talk to anyone else.  Maybe the news outlet obtained a personal document that is not available to the public.

All the things I just listed are legitimately called EXCLUSIVE.

Going to the local high school football game and writing about it on your blog is not an exclusive.
Reporting on publicly available documents is not an exclusive.  I know the definition says:

2exclusive
Definition of EXCLUSIVE
: something exclusive: as
a : a news story at first released to or reported by only one source
 noun

I just feel like that use is abusing the word.  I feel like sometimes people are just using the term for the attention.  It makes them feel special.

So here's my Duck Notes EXCLUSIVE!  

Adding EXCLUSIVE to your story that isn't truly exclusive does NOT make you special.  It doesn't give you an edge over the competition.  What it does do is devalue the impact of the word.

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