Whose exclusive is it anyway…
It seems a few of News Corp’s journos are taking the company mantra to heart and “revelling in the competition” of the Mail Online, so much so they are starting a very public shouting match with them.
Readers of The Daily Telegraph’s print edition could be forgiven thinking the paper was the first to break the news former Olympic swimmer Grant Hackett was flying to the US for rehab.
Dr Mumbo wonders if perhaps the cause of the confusion could be the word “EXCLUSIVE” plastered all over the Tele’s newspaper and online copy?
However, keen online readers will note that the “EXCLUSIVE” was broken by new rival the Mail Online last night, which appears to have perturbed some at the Tele… particularly gossip columnist Annette Sharp.
Here’s how it unfolded:
Newly installed Mail Online editor McIlveen tweeted a link to this “EXCLUSIVE” at around 9.20pm last night:
About half an hour later the Daily Telegraph tweet its version of the story also claiming the “EXCLUSIVE”:
Sydney Confidential writer Annette Sharp then began tweeting former News.com.au editor McIlveen about whether he had enough information in the Daily Mail version. e.g. Hackett’s addiction to stilnox to claim the prized mantle of “EXCLUSIVE”:
Sharp was quite passionate on the topic: 
As of 9am this morning she was still tweeting about it. Even getting into a debate with former Syd Con writer and now Mail Online journalist Maria Lewis about the yarn.
Dr Mumbo looks forward to more of these “EXCLUSIVE” wars in between the Tele and the Mail Online in the coming months…
Wow! Like some vultures fighting over carrion. How about not using a person (yes, an actual person!) suffering misfortune to scrap & fight.
And people wonder why traditional media is one foot in the grave & another on a banana peel?
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How childish. The pair of them need to grow up. Yes, the use of the word “Exclusive” is dubious, but papers like that have been misappropriating the term for years.
To take their arguments into the public arena does them and their profession no good. And as Elle says in her comment, it degrades the fact that a real person is going through a miserable time.
What next? A public spat over who had the Charlotte Dawson story first? These people both need to get real.
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