SPOILERÜ

noun (Lifestyle and Leisure) In media jargon, something that is published to spoil the impact of, and divert attention from, a similar item published elsewhere. Etymology: Another specialized sense of spoiler; a media piece which spoils the success of the original. History and Usage: An aspect of the intense competition of the newspaper world, the spoiler depends on good intelligence sources and may be a complete publication such as a newspaper, or simply an individual article designed to minimize the sucess of another publisher's scoop. Lord Rothermere, who had always claimed the Evening News was more than a temporary spoiler, said yesterday the paper and its staff had fought well. Financial Times 31 Oct. 1987, section 1, p. 4 The speech made the front pages of The Daily Mail, The Times and The Daily Telegraph...The Independent...treated it as a spoiler for Paddy Ashdown's 'green' speech to his party conference a couple of days later. Daily Telegraph 30 Dec. 1989, Weekend section, p. v