Jane Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times lays out a pretty convincing case that Eric Pfeiffer of the Washington Times used quotes from an article she did, as well as some from other reporters, in a story without attribution. Jane Hamsher does her one better, noting that she has done original reporting on several stories that were then run with by major media outlets with no acknowledgement.
One wonders what they’re teaching at J-School. Bloggers, most of whom have no formal journalistic training, seem to instinctively understand that we are supposed to acknowledge the sources of our stories, preferably linking back to the original when an online version exists. Why don’t mainstream reporters do this more consistently?
Noting that someone else did some work that you’re adding to does not diminish that contribution. Indeed, it signals depth of research. So why not do the right thing?
