hotsnack: do you have something good to tell me?

The scoop: a very desirable thing to have if you're a journalist. How does one acquire the breaking news? Well there's good old fashioned research. Which, depending on the depth of one's resources, can yield some hot stories. And then there's the plant. Want to generate big buzz? Plant a story dressed as a 'leak' and watch the snowball. It's an old technique. PR 101. But back in the day, it was used primarily in the gossip/tabloid arenas of print. I've notice more of this m.o. happening online recently. A piece of insider-intel is placed somewhere, just at the right time to generate the most buzz. Of course, if the information is a fresh first-look, it's still hot news, regardless of the provenance. But I think it's worth noting that 'leaking' a story to a blog is now an official and legitimate pr strategy in full swing. Sources say.

Comments

[Doug]

I see tech companies doing this sort of thing all the time. Sometimes they'll leak false or misleading information to throw people off the scent as well.