All the News That’s Fit to Go on the Net

In the cutthroat world of the online news business--where the latest update breaks every few seconds--timing means everything. That’s why Scoop Inc. of Irvine is trying to lure customers to its new online service by offering a unique edge: Get the news before the presses run.

With its IntelliSearch, the Internet news and research firm allows users to pull stories electronically from more than 1,600 media outlets and profiles on about 20,000 companies.

Sign on to the company’s Web site, punch in a key word and up pops the information. Because of the lag time between when a story hits a news wire and when it actually gets published in print, users can see some stories as much as a couple of days early.

“A lot of the early stories will come from monthly journals and magazines,” said Bill O’Connell, vice president of marketing for Scoop. “Occasionally, we’ll get stuff from the [newspaper] dailies.”

A search done Jan. 30 on the names “Bill Clinton” and “Monica Lewinsky” netted 2,500 hits. Topping the list was an editorial from the Denver Post slated for Feb. 1. At the time, the piece was not available on the Post’s own Web site. Editorial staff at the Denver Post could not be reached for comment.

Scoop pays a licensing fee for its online content to the UMI Co., an Ann Arbor, Mich., firm that collects and distributes information electronically. “They are our primary source of content and are the ones that hold all the contracts and licensing agreements with the different publishers,” said Bill O’Connell, vice president of marketing for Scoop. “When a story is transmitted electronically is totally up to the discretion of the publisher, not us.”

IntelliSearch, which launches Tuesday, costs $15 a month. Company officials said they are targeting the advertising, public relations and trade analyst industries.

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P.J. Huffstutter covers high technology for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7830 and at p.j.huffstutter@latimes.com