Credit Where Its Due Online
January 9th, 2006
I’ve received the t-shirt on this issue… More when I get a chance to explain…
I read with great interest the article by Greg Lindsay – January 9, 2006 on MediaBistro: “Credit Where It's Due: Online.”
You will find it interesting also. For other posts about the phenomena of on-line journalists working hard and breaking stories or adding insight to a fast moving story; only to have the main stream media pick it up and not properly attribute the material – click on: Media Commentary MSM Give credit where credit is due
Mr. Lindsey wrote a thoughtful and lengthy analysis so be sure to click on their permalink and read the entire piece. It is obvious that he put a great deal of time and thought into what he wrote. And all of us toiling away thank him…
When independent journalists and bloggers break news, traditional media is not always eager to attribute
By Greg Lindsay – January 9, 2006
But the next day, a brief, unbylined story appeared on The Wall Street Journal Online with news of the potential deal, attributing its information to "people familiar with the situation." The fact that the news had appeared on PaidContent hours before wasn't mentioned. Ali hit the roof.
Unlike The Wall Street Journal, PaidContent has been a one-person operation for most of its nearly four years of existence. Ali started in the site in late 2002 after stints at Inside.com and Jason Calacanis' pre-blogging ventures. Ali began covering digital content on his own, eventually building a small business that today has some support staff and a co-editor.
He'd also become sufficiently sourced up to break scoops like Viacom & iFilm, or the news back in August that Amazon intended to launch a digital music store, which, come to think of it, The Wall Street Journal also borrowed from PaidContent without attribution. After some indignant emails, the editors fixed the story. But now, a month later, WSJ had done it again.
Tired and angry, Ali posted a note on his site at two in the morning calling out Paul Steiger—the Journal's managing editor—and his top online deputies for the theft of his story. "Shame on you, Paul Steiger, Gordon Crovitz, and Bill Grueskin (and whoever edits the media section, and writes these stories)," he wrote, "…teach yourself and your journalists some ethics on crediting. Your reporter was not up till 2 AM in the night confirming and writing this...I was."
Someone was listening. The Journal's corrected its story later that day on its site with a note high in the story that read: "News of the talks was reported earlier by the Web site paidcontent.org," plus a link to the site.
I’ve already quoted too much – read the rest here: Credit Where It's Due: Online. It gets better and better…
Thank you Mr. Lindsey.
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