“Tonight I can report to the American people and the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden,” These words from US President Barack Obama came late last Sunday night, close to mid-night in fact. Most of us in T&T had already retired to bed to get some rest before work on Monday. And so, it seems, the same with the press. Except the Guardian. (who are currently in 3rd place in circulation in a 3 horse race)
I could just see Guardian’s CEO, Gabriel Faria getting a tweet or feed on his mobile on Sunday night and immediately dialing his newspaper GM to ask where “tomorrow’s paper” had reached. The Guardian is the only paper in T&T that caught the biggest news story of 2011, when it was still fresh news. (Or maybe it was just luck that their paper was running late while the other two had already put theirs to bed.)
The Macmillan online dictionary calls a scoop, “an exciting or important news story that one news organisation publishes or broadcasts before anyone else”. This may be more than a scoop and could be a watershed for Guardian Media. They are connected it seems. And unless the other guys get with the new-media programme, pretty soon we might have a new leader.
