Outreach

Exclusive

story exclusive · first look

Definition

Exclusive is a grant that one outlet gets first use of a story, dataset, or interview that you will not give another desk until that outlet has run it, or until a stated drop-dead time passes. It is a trade: the reporter spends time because they will not be scooped by your own blast list. Break the grant and you will not get another one from that person.

There are flavors. A full exclusive means nobody else gets the material. A first-look exclusive means one outlet files first, then others receive the wider release. A category exclusive means the national paper gets it and trades can have it the same morning. Write the flavor down. Verbal “you’re our exclusive” in four Slack threads is how exclusives die.

How it works

Pick the outlet that will do the most complete job for the audience you actually need, not the logo the CEO likes. Offer a window (72 hours is common; some desks want a week for a reported feature). Give documents early. Do not pitch the same news as a “wide embargo” while an exclusive is live. When the story ships, the rest of the list can have a follow-up angle, not a copy of the same lede.

Example: a biotech offers STAT a five-day exclusive on a Phase 2 readout, with the principal investigator and the tables. STAT files Wednesday noon. At 12:05 p.m. the company sends a release to the rest of the health list. A trade reporter who was promised “you’re in the first wave” on Tuesday and then saw STAT overnight will treat the next offer as noise. The exclusive worked for STAT. The sloppy side conversation burned a second relationship for a story that was never going to land there first.

How it differs

An embargo lets many desks work the same story before a shared clock. An exclusive picks a winner. A leak is an exclusive nobody agreed to. A contributed article exclusive is a byline hold, not a reporting hold.

Common errors

Granting “exclusive” to two national desks. Calling a newsletter mention an exclusive when the release already went over the wire. Pulling the exclusive because a CEO got impatient on day two. Offering exclusives on news that is already in an SEC filing.

Sources