In an e-mailed statement to Poynter, USA Today’s Editor-in-Chief David Callaway explained how New York writer Scott Bateman’s weather map ended up on USA Today’s site with different (and far less colorful) wording and no credit.
“Mr. Bateman’s map was an inspiration for an effort that fell short of our newsroom publishing standards,” Callaway writes. He continues:
As soon as we realized our oversight, we took immediate action to correct our mistake. We apologized to Mr. Bateman and are addressing the situation both internally and externally to give the artist the credit he deserves and to set the record straight for our readers. We do not take these incidents lightly.
Bateman, who has written for Salon and the Huffington Post, tweeted about the maps Tuesday and Wednesday. Jim Romenesko wrote about the maps Wednesday.
Yay, @USAToday swiped my weather map graphic and cleaned up the language. Lines are in EXACTLY the same places. pic.twitter.com/BHZpCbxd78
— Scott Bateman (@Disalmanacarian) January 7, 2014
Here’s the side-by-side, Disalmanac vs USA Today: pic.twitter.com/W4pvNmoZkP
— Scott Bateman (@Disalmanacarian) January 8, 2014
I just spoke with USA Today: they A) apologized profusely, B) will credit me and C) have a chat with their graphics people.
— Scott Bateman, aka 5000 Space Aliens (@ScottBatemanMan) January 8, 2014
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