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September 15, 2010 09:28 PM UTC

Can bloggers and reporters just get along?

  • 14 Comments
  • by: Jason Salzman

As a lowly blogger, I’ve of course followed the Bartels-stole-my-story controversy. How could I not, even with the election raging around me?

You recall a ColoradoPols blogger, Half Glass Full, first wrote Sept. 9 about the possibility that the GOP would become a minority party in Colorado, if Dan Maes’ gets less than 10 percent of the vote in November. Great story, and funny.

Then The Denver Post’s Lynn Bartels blogged on the same topic Sept. 11, and The Post ran a story Sept. 13.

Half Glass Full then posted a blog, eloquently titled, “Lynn Bartels stole my story.”

The story was advanced by State Bill News, which contained the Associated Press’ and Post’s guidelines for credit and attribution.

State Bill News, which deserves credit from this blogger for standing up for bloggers like me, also quoted Half Glass Full’s blog post,  “Gee, thanks Lynn.”

But neither Glass Half Full, nor State Bill News, checked with Bartels to get her take on the story theft.

She claims today, in a blog post, that she got the story independently and didn’t see it first on Pols. (I know Pols readers may find this incomprehensible.) She didn’t apologize, like I would have, but that’s ok.

To her credit, she invited Glass Half Full (and by extension ALL bloggers) to email her (lbartels@denverpost.com) if they have questions in the future.

Asked why State Bill News didn’t contact Bartels for its piece, Editor Don Knox wrote:

I felt I got the Post’s (and Lynn’s) side in by citing and linking to their ethics policy, which is silent on attribution except in cases of plagiarism. The Post didn’t attribute because it doesn’t have a policy explicitly requiring attribution. Lynn is following her company’s rules – which are weak.

AP’s policy is much stronger.

Of course, it would have been even better had I called her AND she had responded. But I think the issue of knowledge beforehand is sideshow at this point. As soon as this was brought to Lynn’s attention, she should have amended her reports to reflect the earlier story. Even to this moment, she hasn’t done that. And that’s where the blogger’s point has merit.

I’m hoping this story ushers in a new era, in which bloggers feel comfortable contacting reporters directly, if they find an error in reporters’ work OR if a blogger’s own work isn’t properly credited by a reporter. (And reporters will, of course, respond reasonably.)

And I hope we now enter a new era, in which reporters err on the side of giving too much attribution to bloggers (like me!) and not too little. And they do it, as Knox suggests, even after the fact.

For links, please visit the Bigmedia website.

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14 thoughts on “Can bloggers and reporters just get along?”

  2. I also have a problem with the idea of reporters having to cite bloggers or to attribute content to them in articles. Bloggers aren’t held to the same rigorous to verify sources and to certify the veracity of the content they produce.

    In fact, my reaction to the controversy–if it is one at all–would have been a bit different if it were me.  I would have been happy that I scooped a major regional newspaper. In fact, I have published stories or ideas on my blog that the national media hadn’t latched onto yet, only to see them explode a few days later.  My reaction has always been, “beatcha, suckers!”

    That said, I welcome the idea of closer collaboration between journalists and bloggers, even if that means a high standard of journalistic conduct for bloggers. Only good things can come from it, I would surmise.

    2. I actually agree with BJWilson.

      We bloggers bust our asses to scoop the corporate media.  We do so for free.  Sometimes we succeed.  I have scooped my local paper several times in the last couple of years.

      When we do get the scoop, we get neither money nor credit.  Not even a pat on the head and a “good dog.”

      And lameass reporters like Lynn Bartels get to continue to pretend they’re relevant.

      1. The protocol in much of respectable mainstream media long has been to cite the original breaker of news when doing a follow that chases the story. You see it with some frequency in the NY Times and WS Journal, for example. Reporters hate doing it, so absent any type of editorial policy on the matter it’s unlikely they will.

        Given the frequency with which online media in Colorado — not just “bloggers” per se, who are only one subgroup of online media — have shown the Denver Post has followed their leads without citing who originally broke the news, there’s a distinct pattern here.

        A good followup for Jason might be to ask Greg Moore what the newspaper’s actual policy is regarding citations of outlets that originally broke stories the Post deemed newsworthy enough to follow. There may be no policy, or the newspaper might routinely avoid such citations the same way it frequently avoids corrections or direct interactions with its readers on the printed page or website.

        Whatever the answer, it’s a question worth asking as news competition in Colorado clearly is not cooling down; it’s just taking on a different form.

        I’d also suggest that bloggers and online media — if they’re not already doing so — make it a point to routinely post or report when the Post or another mainstream outlet follows news that they broke. Create an archive that continually enhances your standing as a news source; after all, you’re more likely to be left standing in 10 years than the Post is.  

        1. reported:

          The Post’s ethics policy, posted on its website, contains a far shorter section on credit and attribution, mostly having to do with plagiarism, which was not alleged in this case:

          All writing and reporting in The Denver Post must be original or credited to the proper source.

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