Thursday, November 14, 2013

Getting Scooped by the Competition about Yourself

Capital New York Beats New York Times to Punch on Departure News

The New York Times made big news about itself Wednesday, when it announced the departure of three big names from its formidable roster, including TV/media wunderkind Brian Stelter (to CNN), NY Times magazine political correspondent Matt Bai (Yahoo) and Times magazine editor Hugo Lindgren (points unknown).
That these three were leaving--on the heels of Richard Berke (Politico), David Pogue (Yahoo), Howard Beck (Bleacher Report) and Nate Silver (ESPN)--was notable in and of itself.
But what caught my eye was the last line in the story about the departures: "Mr. Lindgren's move was first reported by Capital New York."
Yes, they had to own up to the fact that a whippersnapper website--and one about to get snappier since being acquired by Politico--had beaten them to their own punch. Ordinarily, those wouldn't be fodder, even for the media-industry mavens at the Times, though Pogue, one of the paper's biggest stars, received similar treatment.
I'd hazard Lindgren on his own wouldn't have merited a mention. But tack on Berke and Stelter, and you have yourselves a media moment for those keeping score at home. Like me.

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