Sarah Lacy, TechCrunch, just tweeted: “thank god i came out of maternity leave to do a story that the times broke the embargo on by 8 hrs. THIS is why @techcrunch doesn’t do them.” The story in question was one about the founding father of the iPod, Tony Fadell’s new venture: Nest.* And it struck me, just as I believe PR has never been harder, the same is probably true of journalism, blogging, reporting – call it what you will.

I’m not sure if this is a result purely of the economy (breaking news drive advertising), or a confluence of multiple factors like social media and fierce competition from numerous blogs all jostling to be the first to break news. Whatever it is, things are shifting in our business and it can make honing in on the right strategy pretty tricky.

Take figuring out who to brief, when to brief them and what to say. With outlets placing a much bigger emphasis on being the first to break news, if you’re working for a brand smaller than Apple’s, you’re probably contemplating exclusives more often than ever before. The irony of TechCrunch’s Lacy getting scooped by the NY Times needs no explanation.

Perhaps for once, the grass isn’t greener on the other side of the fence.

(*Disclosure: Nest was Bird PR’s founding client, now handled by Outcast).