First with indictment of Alaska Senator

Reuters scored a huge beat, almost 9 minutes over AP and 14 minutes over Bloomberg, on the indictment of Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator in U.S. history. His indictment on July 29 has implications for the future make-up of the Senate and therefore the shape of policy-making in future as well as to oil exploration activity because of the central role Alaska might play in future crude output increases. Great sources, smart instincts and fast reporting from Justice Department reporters got confirmation, well ahead of a planned news conference, that Stevens had been charged on seven counts. The New York Times sent out an alert based on our reporting, it was read on CNBC and cited in Congress. Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid told a news conference he learned of the indictment from “a news flash from the Reuters agency.”