Morning News Scoops Itself, Gives Story to Competitor

We hear there was some grumbling around the Benton County Daily Record’s newsroom recently after a competitor took credit for breaking a story that the Daily Record claimed to have first.

Specifically, the complaint involved a story about a man described as a “sexual predator” who was living in Bella Vista at taxpayer expense.

That story broke in mid-June, but the complaints stemmed from the publication two weeks later of a package of related stories in The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas. Reporter John T. Anderson wrote three articles, at least two of which contained claims that Benton County residents and deputies learned about the man’s residency and his history from The Morning News.

Daily Record reporters contended they published that story on June 15 while it didn’t appear in The Morning News until June 16.

So who had the scoop?

Well, it depends on whether you read the printed edition or the Internet edition of the newspapers. Although the story appeared first in printed form in the Daily Record , the News had the story on its web page June 15.

Jim Morriss, executive editor of The Morning News, says the paper literally scooped itself — by accident.

“John [Anderson] had the jump on everybody,” says Morriss, adding that Anderson even broke the news to Benton County law enforcement officers. “We held the story” until the company lawyer could review it, Morriss says.

While the News was waiting for his approval, the Daily Record broke the story in its news pages. But back at the News, someone had accidentally spooled Anderson’s story onto the web page, and that’s where The Associated Press picked it up, Morriss says.

“We scooped ourselves,” Morriss says.