Surprise! Scoops sell papers!

When your exclusive story can be quoted by all other media online seconds after you have published it, it no longer pays to invest in good journalism. Some say. Even government ministers. I have never understood that argument. If you consistently can produce good, exclusive, intriguing, appealing journalism, the audience will recognize it and reward you. A piece of evidence from Britain:

One of the most interesting aspects of the scandal is the revelation that old-fashioned scoops can still sell papers. Many publishers have assumed that in the Internet era, “exclusives” stay that way for about three seconds, so they are not worth pursuing. Instead, they have shifted the emphasis of their papers toward analysis or opinion. But The Telegraph’s exclusives, serialized like popular 19th century novels, have made a big difference at the newsstand. According to unaudited industry figures, The Daily Telegraph sold a cumulative total of about 900,000 additional copies in the first two weeks of its reports. On some days, its circulation jumped more than 10 percent from the official April level of about 818,000.