Ok -- so what is the standard? > Rexroad.com

I am not sure what blogs are. Are they journalism? Crystal Lee is probably choking. Are they something elected officials should do? Helen Thomson is now choking. Are they just kind of in between?

I think they are probably in between somewhere but I am not sure exactly how to articulate it.

For the last couple years almost everyday I have read 10-15 blogs each day. I also read printed and on-line newspapers. It is something I like to do and helps me keep track of what is going on.

A few months ago one of my favorite people from Woodland wrote a letter to the editor in the Democrat ripping me about all the evil things I do. It was about a certain business coming to town that is going to employ about 300 people with good union jobs. I saw the letter to the editor on-line and wanted to make sure that my readers here saw it.

Almost always I link to the part of the Democrat I want to highlight. I am not sure how the Democrat feels about this but I justify it as increasing the readership on their site and pointing out my views on their stories and comments.

Well on the day this letter came out I got sloppy. I cut and pasted the content right into the announcement section on this site. I had something to do and needed to do it quickly. I should have linked to the website and guided people there -- and then ripped the writer for being a NIMBY.

Jim Smith saw this and sent me an e-mail pointing out that I had taken content from the newspaper. He was right. I corrected it as soon as I got back on my computer. The letter writer had sent content to the Daily Democrat -- not to me -- and the Democrat owned it. I stole content from the Democrat. I shouldn't have done it and won't do it again.

I think I have a pretty good idea of what I think is right and wrong on these things. It is more just an overall view. I don't pretend to be a journalist.

So then last night I am reading Bob Dunning's column in the Enterprise. He has a great piece about Greenwalds being on the ballot. It is very well done.

Here is the issue. In the piece he takes then Davis Mayor Sue Greenwald's comments directly from The People's Vanguard of Davis. I know that because I read the comments when she posted them on David's site. Clearly in the print edition he can't "link" to the Vanguard but doesn't Dunning at least need to mention where he took the quotes from. David is certainly more of a journalist than I am. He is actually trying to make money on his site with advertising just like the newspaper is.

If this happened to me I don't think I would really care. I am not making money on this. I am not trying to make money.

It would appear to me that there is something wrong with the way Dunning referenced the quotes in the Vanguard but I can't articulate exactly the rule that I would apply to these issues.

Comments

By The Realist @ Wednesday, July 02, 2008 9:52 AM

Do not feel too bad. Yesterday, the democrat stole my scanned copy of the Grand Jury report and posted it on their story as if it was theirs. Lame? Yes, but in the end who really cares. It would have been nice to get a plug, stating the source of information, but I understand. I actually think it is good to link to other publications and give credit. After all, it is about getting information to people. I think we self police ourselves enough. If someone in town does something out of line, they will hear about it. I somewhat like you, besides balding, I read as many publications as possible to stay informed.

By floatingfoam @ Wednesday, July 02, 2008 10:55 AM

Even though you don't have ads, you are accumulating capital. You are building a reputation for this site and for your name. You will be able to use this in future elections or maybe even your professional interests.

Doing the right thing in this case is easy. I'm not sure why newspapers and bloggers are having a hard time with it.

By bandislife @ Wednesday, July 02, 2008 11:32 AM

Here is the standard we use at the California Aggie: As a journalist, if you include a quote in your writing without saying anything about where it came from, the assumption is it is something you were told in an interview. If you are quoting from a written statement or press release, you must indicate that. If you are quoting from a meeting, briefing, or press conference, you must indicate that as well. Any quotes taken from a source other than your own interviews must be attributed as such. So if we take quotes from the Sacramento Bee or the LA Times, we have to attribute those.

Bob Dunning might be able to argue that since he's a columnist he doesn't have to meet the same standards as a news journalist would, but in most professional newspapers, columnists are held to the same journalistic standards as any other reporter. Regardless of the standards, though, it's definitely unethical to provide those quotes without attribution to where they came from.

By rhuber @ Wednesday, July 02, 2008 1:30 PM

I post the Title, Subtitle if applicable, Source of Publication, Date of Publication, an excerpt (a paragraph or two at the most) then a "Read full story" link that directs to the source... all in that order (it's an anal-retentive thing that runs in the family).

Most papers/publications leave some form of the original article online so that the URL stays valid. Some move it to a premium archive which works well too. The problem is when papers simply remove the original article altogether, leaving you with dead links which result in a number of other problems. I try to keep note of papers that I know will eventually drop the article, in which case I post the entire content and link the the main page of the source.

By marlinex @ Thursday, July 03, 2008 9:48 PM

For what it's worth, Jim Smith has printed full posts from my blog in the Democrat with asking me for permission. Double-standard, I say.

By marlinex @ Thursday, July 03, 2008 9:50 PM

I meant to say WITHOUT asking for permission...long day!

By Matt Rexroad @ Sunday, July 06, 2008 9:10 AM

Foam -- you are right in some ways. That means I have a different motive. I want newspapers and others blogs to link here. They help me that way.

Marilyn -- but Jim references your blog when he does. In the case I mentioned DPD was not even referenced. The material was used without any mention of where it came from.

You must be logged in to post a comment. You can login here