Scooping Where You Sleep

Twitter is the ultimate instant news source.

Reporters have the ability to tweet from anywhere with cell reception or Internet access, and most put this on-the-go capability to use every day.

An article from Poynter. reported that because journalists were tweeting and updating statuses about being arrested at Occupy Wall Street. While this use of social media is effective, some critics argue that the arrested journalists actually scooped their own newsrooms.

Although an official statement was released by the journalists' newsroom denying that the employees' tweets scooped employers, there is an idea that other news sources could become obsolete.

The biggest (actually, shortest) obstacle for Twitter's takeover of breaking news is 140 characters long. Limited to 140 characters, Twitter is heavy with headlines but short on content.

For a quick news fix, Twitter should be the go-to; however, other media, such as print and online newspapers, television, and radio, are better equipped for whole articles and in-depth pieces.

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Scandalous Scoop

Secrets lead to scandals. As journalists, we feed off of this basic formula for our biggest scoops.

According to an article from The Huffington Post, the identities of the women who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment remain anonymous. This adds to Cain's politically scandalous story.

As a reporter covering the Cain development, a few legal issues are present.

First off, the choice to grant anonymity is a double-edged story. For some sources that is the only way to get them to talk, and without them there would be no story. On the other hand, because the source is unnamed, there is less accountability placed on the source to be accurate and a greater level of scrutiny on the journalist to have the facts instead of lies.

Thus far, only the attorney for one of the accusers has commented on the case. Joel P. Bennett, the attorney, said that his client will stay anonymous and decline interviews. Due to her silent approach, he said, "I could be on TV 12 hours a day easily," Bennett said. "I could be on CNN eight hours alone. Meet the Press. ABC. Next week, I'll be a nobody again."

Bennett brings up an interesting point. The public loves a good political scandal whether it be 'Weinergate' via Twitter, Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton, or Herman Cain. However, will the press care in a week?

Clinton was reelected after the Lewinsky scandal, but Weiner stepped down after his Twitter fiasco. Cain topped the polls when the sexual harassment allegations hit the headlines. Will he be able to recover?

Photo by Gage Skidmore

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