Reuters first as Senator Lincoln eyes compromise on derivatives language.

Reuters broke the news on June 14 that Senator Blanche Lincoln was backing down on her controversial plan to limit banks participation in the lucrative over-the-counter derivatives market. With every financial media outlet scrambling to find out the status of Lincolns plan, Reuters was first to report that Lincoln only wanted banks to spin off their swaps dealing desks to an affiliate. Reuters was first to obtain the brief document from Lincolns office detailing her clarifications. This then caused some key policymakers to start warming to her plan and improved odds of its inclusion in the final U.S. regulation bill. Policymakers had at first outright rejected Lincolns plan. But Lincolns clarifications appeared to appease influential policymakers such as former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank. Dow Jones matched the document story one hour later. But at the same time, Reuters was running a fresh set of headlines that provided even more detail on Lincolns plan. Those included the provision that banks could continue to use the swaps to hedge risk even if the size of their hedge book qualified them as a so-called major swaps participant.`A few hours later Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times matched the document story.