This is a very human norm that is rooted in our collective past, when reciprocity was a tool of survival.

And this is why most media outlets forbid their reporters from accepting gifts from public, especially from news sources. The majority of media ban gifts that are valued over a certain limit, generally $25 or so. Almost all news media forbid travel junkets as well.

Editors and producers want no questions to arise concerning any reporter’s fairness and accuracy. Thus, ban on gifts.

But there remains one gift that reporters will gladly accept and Boss will gladly encourage.

That gift is “the scoop.”

The scoop is an exclusive, important story. It is a news item that reporter to beat competition. It can be anything from a tip that city council may change town charter to a document that shows a local CEO is engaged in illegal insider trading.

Any tidbit of information that leads to a scoop is always welcome in a newsroom. Indeed, providing a steady supply of scoops is only way to win a reporter’s heart.

Scoops are what allow reporters to move up in ranks. Scoops are what allow newspaper editors and TV producers to keep their jobs. Scoops are what allow newspapers to attract more readers, TV stations to attract more viewers, radio stations to attract more listeners and Web sites to attract more hits.

If you don`t know it yet, you will probably learn over time, that email marketing is probably THE most effective way of marketing online. That is, IF you do it right way.

Here`s a couple of hints and tips that have worked for me:

I have a habit of signing up for safelists that offer free pro memberships to first so-so many members. I find that smaller safelists are most responsive. Once they reach around 1000 members or so, actual opening and reading of mails seems to die off.

Think about what would make YOU open an email. What would grab YOUR attention? Try to make subject both interesting and captivating, with just a touch of urgency.

Make sure your subject line isn`t misleading. That`s such a huge turn-off to most marketers. They open a mail with a great subject line, and find that it bears absolutely NO relevance to mail itself. Not only will they most likely delete mail right away, but they`ll probably remember who sent it, and never open mails from that person again.

Remember, if you`re going to use safelists for your email marketing, get a seperate email address for all mail you`ll get from other members.

I probably have about 10 so-called "junkmail" accounts, where I get all my safelist mails. I go through my mails every day, and yes, I do delete most of them right away.

Sometimes though, something catches my eye, and I take a closer look. I find it`s a GREAT way of keeping on top of what`s happening in world of internet marketing.

Now, if safelists are just NOT your cup of tea, you need to work out how to create a warm market, for your own personal use.

The best way of doing this, is by building your very own contact list. Whether you want to publish an ezine, or just create a mailing list is up to you, but make sure you do it properly. I personally find my contacts through chat. I go to as many chatrooms as I can find, and make sure my profile is up-to-date and lets people know that I`m an online marketer.

That way, if people are interested in learning more about me, they`ve at least got a starting point, and from there, it`s pretty easy to get them to allow you to add them to your mailing list.