You win some and...
We began chasing the story about a Jefferson Pilot/Lincoln National merger on Friday morning after getting a tip. Most of our business staff and a couple other reporters called everyone we could think of to confirm that JP would be sold.
Managing Editor Ann Morris and I agreed early on that we would need to have confirmation from a primary source -- someone privy to the discussions -- to publish. It is a high standard, perhaps impossibly high, but this is too serious a story to publish based on second-hand information.
And our reporters got a lot of good information, including the date and place of employee meetings today, but it was all from people who heard from other people. None was on the record, and none came from someone in a position to know first-hand. So, even though it looked like a duck and walked like a duck, we weren't 100 percent positive we could call it a duck. Obviously, it was a duck, though.
JP officials didn't return calls Friday, even their press office was silent. We've chased such rumors before, and I've gotten calls from high-up company reps reminding me of the dangers of publishing unsubstantiated talk. So their silence may have spoken volumes. May have. For all I know they could have been at ConvergeSouth and away from their phones.
In the end, of course, we didn't publish because no one would go on the record, and we couldn't reach anyone who acknowledged being in the know. The New York Times doesn't identify any sources by name, either. I don't regret that even though, in hindsight, everything that we heard has been proven true. But we didn't know that Friday or Saturday, unfortunately. And it's true that publishing a story about talk of a company's sale can be damaging, damaging to the company's stock, disrupting to employee morale and frightening the community. But not being first on the biggest business story in Greensboro this year hurts.
JP has deep roots in Greensboro with a long, rich history, thousands of employees and a signature hold on the city's skyline. Check the homepage often today because we're going to be updating throughout the day. We'll have complete coverage in tomorrow's paper.
Comments (10)
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For the record, you did the right thing. I think being first matters to you media types a lot more than it does to regular folks. What does being first mean anyway these days, a few hours? Who cares. Get it right. Incorrectly reported facts have a much longer shelf life than the swelled chest of having the scoop. Nice job.
Posted on October 10, 2005 3:43 PM
Scoops are overrated. How complete you are after the fact is what matters.
Questions not yet answered on the site:
- Are employees relocating? (I know the current story explains that some jobs will be lost; numbers undetermined.)
- Is downtown getting another white elephant building, or will Lincoln/JP continue to occupy the most distinctive building in the skyline?
- Is the clock still working?
Posted on October 10, 2005 4:15 PM
Beau, we don't yet know the answers to the first two questions, although we're trying to find out. The employee meeting is in progress. The clock, however, still works.
The value of scoops is in street sales. Admittedly, it's of less value than it was. But had we been able to publish Saturday morning what we're publishing tomorrow morning, I believe we'd get the paper into the hands of more people. Now the paper will come out after TV and the Internet have done their things. I don't know how many people who don't normally get the paper will think, "ho-hum, I've got what I need on that story," but there will be some.
Posted on October 10, 2005 4:29 PM
That's true, and that turns up the pressure to get as much of the story online today as you can.
I don't think readers care as much about "scoops" as journalists do, but they notice who owns the story in the hours after it breaks.
I did find through one of your links that Greensboro isn't completely out in the cold:
"Once the merger is complete, Lincoln Financial Group's corporate offices will be headquartered in Philadelphia. Greensboro, NC will be the major center of operations for life insurance, and Fort Wayne, IN will be the center for annuity operations."
(From: http://www.lfgjpmerger.com/pressReleases/index_3.html)
Whether that's true in 10 years, of course, is a good question.
Good luck -- big one to cover.
Posted on October 10, 2005 5:36 PM
Beau, this just in: JP says that clock will remain, but they aren't sure if the technology will allow them to change the initials flashed in between the time and temperature. Don't ask me.
Posted on October 10, 2005 5:48 PM
As far as I am concerned, you made the right call. And you are in the best position to nail the story your readership cares about - the local impact - the rest of the way.
Posted on October 10, 2005 6:44 PM
Did recent questions about the way the paper handles "scoops" have anything to do with this situation? Just curious.
Posted on October 11, 2005 8:26 AM
Justin, I'm drawing a blank on questions about how we handle scoops. Help!
Posted on October 11, 2005 8:32 AM
We had a long correspondence about the way the N&R handled the scoop of another story. This story I felt was handled properly.
Posted on October 11, 2005 10:54 AM
Oh, right. Not really. We wanted to get the scoop pretty badly because we knew it was a big story for our readers. And, had we had it nailed down, we'd have published. But we didn't. I appreciate the commenters who said that we did the right thing by not publishing. We just weren't 100 percent confident that our story was solid.
Posted on October 11, 2005 11:14 AM