Yesterday I got offered an exclusive of the sort that would normally be ignored by pretty much everyone. It was based on a (dubious) survey and was about a well-worn subject (internet shopping is catching on!).
But there was a decent London angle. And I thought, just this once….
My plan was to have it ready overnight, stick it up online first thing, see how it played, and maybe get a few words into the newspaper.
As the afternoon wore on, it emerged that this exclusive was anything but.
It had been sent everywhere.
The flak clarified that only a very small bit of this very small story was mine alone.
So I told them to forget it.
Checking around just now, nobody ran this story. (It may have made a few pars in Recycling Today.) And in all likelihood nobody will.
They were offered an open goal. And chose to intentionally biff the ball into the crowd. They scored zero goals rather than one.
It seemed more important to them to send things out than actually get any coverage.
I don’t get it.
