journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

, a scoop or exclusive is an item of

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the te ...

reported by one

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

or news organization before others, and of exceptional originality, importance, surprise, excitement, or secrecy. Scoops are important and likely to interest or concern many people. A scoop may be a new story, or a new aspect to an existing or

breaking news Breaking news, also called late-breaking news, a special report, special coverage, or a news flash, is a current issue that warrants the interruption of a scheduled broadcast in order to report its details. News broadcasters also use the term ...

story. It may be unexpected, surprising, formerly secret, and may come from an exclusive source. Events witnessed by many people generally cannot become scoops, (e.g., a natural disaster, or the announcement at a

press conference A press conference, also called news conference or press briefing, is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalism, journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicia ...

). However, exclusive news content is not always a scoop, as it may not provide the requisite importance or excitement. A scoop may be also defined retrospectively; a story may come to be known as a scoop because of a historical change in perspective of a particular event. Due to their secret nature,

scandals A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way a ...

are a prime source of scoops (e.g., the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the Presidency of Richard Nixon, administration of President Richard Nixon. The scandal began in 1972 and ultimately led to Resignation of Richard Nixon, Nix ...

by ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' journalists Woodward and Bernstein). Scoops are part of journalistic lore, and generally confer prestige on the journalist or news organization.

Word origin

The word ''scoop'' is of American origin, first documented in 1874. As a verb, meaning to beat someone in reporting first, it is first recorded in 1884.

Extended usage

More generally, a scoop is the first discovery or the first report of something important. In some of John le Carré's spy novels, a scoop is new information of major strategic importance, not, of course, intended for publication."I have received this information from Pali, he has visited Rumania." "Rumania? For the toxic-weapons conference? That would be a scoop!" John le Carré, '' The Secret Pilgrim'', ch. 6, p. 140. A scoop in the scientific community is a report by one group before another, giving them

scientific priority In science, priority is the credit given to the individual or group of individuals who first made the discovery or proposed the theory. Fame and honours usually go to the first person or group to publish a new finding, even if several researchers a ...

. In science, it is often considered important to be the first to make an important discovery. According to a 2025 study, scientific teams that get scooped by other teams "are less likely to publish in top journals and receive 21 percent fewer citations."

References

External links

* {{wiktionary-inline, scoop
''In defense of scoops: Their reputation took a beating in Boston, but there are reasons to value the news scoop, and they go beyond ego and institutional pride''
by Bill Grueskin, April 22, 2013,

Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its original purpose was "to assess the performance ...

''What’s a Toyota “Exclusive?” at This Point?: Bloomberg pushes the definition''
by Dean Starkman, February 24, 2010,

''SCOOP! Flood of ‘scoops’ dilutes value of real exclusives''
by Bill Adair and Hank Tucker, June 21, 2017,

Journalism terminology Mass media events

Word origin

Extended usage

See also

References

External links