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Journalism & Media vocabulary · News Gathering and Sources

Scoop

Meaning in journalism & media, with examples

/skuːp/nounCore term

In journalism & media, scoop means: An important or exciting story that one journalist or outlet publishes before any of its competitors; as a verb, to beat rivals to a story.

In Turkish: atlatma haber, özel haber

How it is used

Journalists get, land or break a scoop, and they hate being scooped by rivals. A scoop is often labelled exclusive. Informal and slightly old-fashioned, but still widely used in newsrooms.

Example sentences

  1. The Harbour Gazette got the scoop on the merger a full day before everyone else.

  2. We were scooped by a rival website while we were still checking the details.

Common collocations

  • get a scoop
  • big scoop
  • be scooped
  • land a scoop
  • tip-offA piece of secret or early information given to a journalist or the police about something that has happened or is going to happen.
  • news storyA single piece of reporting about a recent event or issue, published in print or online or broadcast on radio or television.
  • sourceA person, document or organisation that gives a journalist information for a story; also the place where a piece of information comes from.
  • breaking newsNews about an important event that is happening right now or has only just happened, reported as soon as it is known and updated as more details come in.

More terms: News Gathering and Sources

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