E-Media Tidbits

It an open secret, if it's a secret at all, that since radio started carrying news, some stations have relied heavily on the content of local newspapers to fill their newscasts. Heck, when I was a radio guy lo those many years ago, we would "comb" the paper for good stories. But at least we'd make calls and try to follow up on them or advance them, rather than just ripping off the paper. (I confess, I don't think we often, if ever, attributed the stories to Newsday or another paper where we initially found them.)

Now comes The (Baltimore) Sun going public with its complaint that it's being ripped off. In an article in the Baltimore CityPaper, Sun multimedia editor Steve Sullivan illustrates by example how two radio stations and Metro Networks have copied -- plagiarized isn't the word he used, but he certainly made the case -- Sun material.

Is it important? Yes, indeed. Does a radio station have to attribute every story from a local newspaper to that newspaper? No, probably not (at least in my view), especially if the facts are simple facts, the material is clearly rewritten, and the story is not a product of the newspaper's enterprise or investigations. But in these days of journalists being accused of plagiarism, fabrication, and/or writing an after-the-fact story beforehand as they expect it will happen -- and with the ease by which online copy can be ripped off -- it's better to err on the side of caution.

Attribute often; do your own darned reporting (very tough in these days of gutted radio news staffs and stretched-too-thin TV staffs), and be careful that you can't be accused of ripping off your neighbor and colleague.