I've never quite figured out if journalists realize that while they imagine they are courting sources, sources rightfully understand that they are courting journalists. Most readers don't, at least. I saw enough of the sausage factory in my limited visits to DC to know that it's pretty standard for "ground rules" of providing "scoops" (which often aren't) to journalists ensure that at least initial coverage of things is slanted in certain ways. And most of the time "scoops" are really just "which journalist gets the info that the source wants to get out there no matter what first." Source has story, wants to get it out there in the best favorable light, at least initially, and finds the journalist willing to agree to that. Make it a running agreement and suddenly your journalist job got a bit easier. Take the press release, print the press release. You know the drill.
And it isn't as if this is always an indefensible practice, but in the aggregate...
