ABC News touted an "Exclusive" on my Twitter feed this morning. It had US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner telling George Stephanopoulis that unemployment could actually rise as the recovery continues. I'll let you draw your own personal conclusions as to how the administration is handling the economy but does this statement come as any surprise? To anyone? But apparently it's "Exclusive" because that's what it says on ABC's Website.
While I'm singling this example from ABC News, (I used to sit on their Affiliate Advisory Board) everyone is promoting "Exclusive" so much that it really has no meaning.
OK, it's a competitive news environment these days but it seems that the promotion departments are driving news rather than the other way around. Today's story was about the same as saying the sun rises in the east.
There were lots of breathless "Exclusives" in past months talking about....oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. All of which left me completely whelmed.
Good journalists work hard for exclusives. Bad promotion departments promote exclusives when they really aren't. A perfect example is this morning's "Exclusive" when a morning news anchor talks with a government official putting their spin on what condition our condition is in.
It's not exclusive, it may not even be news because news is what's new. Political spin is just that. Spin. But please, don't call it exclusive and don't call it news.
Brian Olson
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