Old Media Rules Allegedly Prevent Crediting Competitors

It's not exactly news to anyone that print media can sometimes get a story from a blog and "forget" to credit the original source. Maybe they just haven't learned how to hyperlink yet! Most recently the NY Post picked up a story without crediting blogger Miss Heather. Nieman Journalism Lab reports that when she "uncovered a major zoning violation in her Brooklyn neighborhood last month, it was only natural that the New York Post would pick up the story. But credit the blogger? That would be a violation of policy."

According to reporter Alex Ginsberg, the paper prohibits crediting blogs and other competitors for scoops; he told his muse, Miss H: “Post policy prevented me from crediting you in print. Allow me to do so now. You did a fantastic reporting job. All I had to do was follow your steps (and make a few extra phone calls). The rule is this: if every detail, fact and quote can be independently verified, then we don’t have to credit anyone.”

Suzi Halpin, a spokeswoman for the Post, insists, "The New York Post credits blogs, bloggers, and other media all the time, as our readers know." Like when Curbed wrote about the Jeff Koons emerald on a private terrace that had been there for over two years, and the Post just happened to pick the story up the next day with no mention of the website.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in News on September 4, 2009 3:42 PM

Comments [rss]

gawkthis

i guess calling it "a failure to cite" is more acceptable than acknowledging their behavior is really the "use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work." (1995 Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary deffinition of plagiarism).

as someone else noted, it works for Gawker....

NannyState

Luckily for the Post, they also don't have to credit anyone when they just make shit up.

grandzu

Calling that a "major zone violation" demeans actual major things.

inoyourider

"if every detail, fact and quote can be independently verified, then we don’t have to credit anyone.”

longacre

My site broke a lighthearted story a couple months ago that was subsequently picked up hours later by just about every major news organization on the planet (and Gothamist). The only "old media" organization to credit us was USA Today, albeit through one of their blogs, not their main news site.

matty

The IRONY! Gothamist et. al. (gawker being the most egregious violater of citation guidelines) forget to properly cite sources all the time. And now you expect the print world to follow the rules you break all the time?

Pfft! Puhleaaaze!

asakasan

And no, I'm not in media, I'm a teacher, who experiences difficulty when discussing plagiarism with his students in light of the practices of new media ...

asakasan

This is rich. Avoiding cliches about pots, kettles and other cookware, I'll just say this. Even though blogs will frequently link back to a source article, that does not excuse the block lifting of copy from said article, which occurs rampantly in blogs, Gothamist included. Of course it's wrong of the Post to not acknowledge sources. But it's just as wrong for blogs to lift pieces from "old media", and republish it with little more than a hyperlink. It must be nice to be a blog without needing to do your own footwork. Granted, blogs give link traffic back to their sources, but it's the sources that did the expensive research. Think twice before snarking other media (which Gothamist LOVES to do to the Times).

FinalShaft

I have to come down on the old media side on this one. Blogs do not employ reporters who go to the scene, get names, follow sources. I guess it becomes news when one blog actually does do a little homework and doesn’t get the praise. Must be a holdover from the helicopter parenting days or something.

metalbot

the difference is that the blogs lack the sanctimony of the likes of the post whose position is that they are the true news sources and blogs are parasites. well if that's true, then why are the post writers constantly scanning the blogs all day for news stories which they then subsequently steal and don't credit?