BLOGGERS VS NEWSPAPERS
On September 16, 2009 I wrote a post entitled, “The Lemonade Stand: I DID A BAD, BAD THING.” Within the post I listed of number of topics which I thought were worthy of concern and addressed each one to some extent. The response was terrific. I had a lot of fun creating the premise and the back and forth with readers. This morning while reading the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, I came across an article by Gary Rotstein in his column The Morning File. The article was entitled, “Be the first to say: I’ve done a bad, bad thing.” He set the piece up to delineate various local and national topics much the way I had in my post of September 16th. Hmmm, I thought, this is far too close in concept and it had me a bit riled. Plagiarism? I don’t know. Can concepts be plagiarized?
Still, it gave me pause. Bloggers work hard to develop appealing strategies, and I know that newspaper columnists do as well. Perhaps it was a case of two minds thinking along the same lines. But I know from our stats that my post got a lot of hits, requests and trackbacks. I have stated before on AskCherlock that we are not, nor do we pretend to be, a news source. We are an opinion blog. Somehow newspapers and bloggers need to co-exist within the confines of mutual respect.
Last year, July 18, 2008, I did a post entitled “Are Newspapers Becoming Antiquated?” In the post I suggested that perhaps newspapers are becoming antiquated, but bemoaned the loss. The reality is that bloggers and newspapers must now co-exist. Each of the venues has merit. We have found some wonderful blogs and have them listed on our blogroll so that others may enjoy them as well. It seems to me that bloggers have a camaraderie and an innate support of one another. Newspapers, by virtue of being sales-driven, do not share this camaraderie. Nevertheless, both are now viable entities. No longer can bloggers be considered the step-siblings of newspapers.
Perhaps I am over-reacting to a perceived theft of an idea. If I am, feel free to call me out on it. If you have had a similar experience, I would be interested in hearing that as well.
—cher
You may be overreacting. I love your blogs and while I don’t always comment, I do read them. I loved the one about the lemonade stand.
As for plagiarism, I doubt that. It may be coincidence. I write a cooking blog and oddly enough, there have been two occasions when I’ve found the same dish on another blog on the same day.
Writing about timely subjects will bring other similar newspaper articles and blogs, but yours is unique. Always remember that. I will continue to keep your blogsite on my bloglist.
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Anyone can become a blogger not anyone can become a published newspaper writer. So I don’t think they ARE equal though there are some bloggers who do better work than some newspaper writers.
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Drama Queen,
You’re right in that I may be over-reacting. It has happened before, though not with this writer. And…in truth, ideas probably cannot be copyrighted. I once did a post about a hawk that was in a tree in our backyard and put up a photo my husband had taken of it. Two weeks later the same photo showed up another blog, cut and pasted, I’m sure. The quality was not as good, but there was no mistaking the particular twisting of the branch upon which our hawk was perched. Oh well….
So sorry about your recipes. I guess that is part of the travails of blogging. Thanks for the adding us to your bloglist. I visit you frequently and love keeping up with your travels.
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Harrison,
Agreed, on all counts. You must admit, however, that Arianna Huffington was a pioneer in building a news blog with The Huffington Post. And—she gives all sides to issues through her forums and the articles presented.
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Hopefully, it is a case of like minds with like interests…but since it is a local paper, do you know the columnist or have any way of knowing if they follow “local blogs?” With your earlier, popular piece, maybe he DID ready it and didn’t exactly “plagiarize” but thought it was a line of thinking he should follow?
One thing that I think has become sloppy with “the media”–I expect “the facts, ma’am,” when I read a paper or watch the news….UNLESS it is expressly noted to be an opinion column or feature. I fear that opinions have leaked into the fact area…and often, the true facts are not leaking back the other direction!
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WillOaks Studio,
No, I don’t know the columnist, though I have read him and he is good. Probably coincidence, but I was amazed when I read his headline.
There is no denying media bias. It has tainted many otherwise good writers. I can’t think of any who play it straight down the middle. That’s why we should read all sides and arrive at our own conclusions, I guess. What a world!
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Ideas cannot be plagarized. Newspapers are having an increasingly hard time the world over – with competition from the Net. Would nice to think that your post would have been referenced.
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Walk Talk Tours,
No, the consensus seems to be that ideas cannot be plagiarized. I would not want to see newspapers go under, though the Internet is increasingly the viable alternative.
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Arianna has a good racket going. Most, if not all, of her “writers” are unpaid and contribute hoping to become famous. She gets rich, her writers toil away for nothing. It’s a good deal for her. Obviously some of these unpaid bloggers don’t mind writing and helping Arianna become rich.
HuffPo doesn’t show ALL sides as it is a Left-leaning blog (not as bad as Kos though).
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Hey Cher….
That is part and parcel unfortunately in publicizing ones thoughts.
I have many times had to call out a blogger or website owner on why my articles had no authors name. They give some idiotic excuse and then add my name. I mean they don’t even try to change the article at all.
So yes it is and can be very unnerving.
I cannot control it so I look at it through a positive lens and am quite flattered in that my thoughts are that appealing that someone wants them and at the end of the day they are still reaching out to someone, somewhere.
Personally I will take a bloggers thought with more clout these days than most newspaper journalists…and it is not their doing but for the most part they are told what they can and cannot write.
In your situation it could be either or….there are two minds that know for sure who the real author is and that is the author himself and God!
Huggz~D~
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Dorothy L,
As always your perceptions are profound. Being positive really is the best approach, isn’t it? In the long run, I suppose it does not matter so much. What can be troubling is that we try to be unique and creative only to have someone use the same lines. Perhaps it was chance. At least we are date-stamped, D!
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Creative and intelligent ideas are often borrowed. So we wouldn’t be surprised if that happened to you. But usually credit is given or some type of monetary compensation.
We often wonder about putting stuff out in the Blogosphere. It seems this world is ripe for plagiarism. And if that’s true, is it really plagiarism or is it just part of the understanding of the internet, that it’s all free, including ideas, pictures and words?
We don’t have the answers. Any ideas that were borrowed from our site we were given credit for, as far as WE KNOW!
Interesting topic! We all need to talk more about this.
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THE GUYS,
I am not really certain about this plagiarism issue either. At one point I was aware of certain bloggers who were writing books and releasing chapters of them on the Internet as they went along. I made them aware that this was probably not a good idea since they had not been published yet.
On the other hand, I also know of one blogger who has his own web site and has taken various posts, put them in book form and published them. It would seem then, that copyright does provide a certain amount of protection. If you look at the bottom of our page, it says “Copyright @ 2009 AskCherLock.com. Brought to you by WordPress Themes.”
I do think it is an issue that warrants further investigation by those of us who take this seriously. And you are so right; we do need to talk more about this. Thanks, Guys!
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I understand your worries and concerns. Maybe you are too sensitive or maybe you are right. I honestly can’t say and judge here. But your idea is your personal idea and I understand why you feel almost like it was stolen from you. But often happens that you have same idea with complete stranger. It happens but if you wrote first I’d say it is definitely yours. Probably no one could say different.
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NewsMeBack,
Well, you know how it is. You attempt to put some thought and creativity into your writing and it requires effort. So, if someone has the same idea (later), it feels as if your child has been stolen. Chances are that two people had the same idea at different times. I’m over it, but it provided some thought for others, especially those sharing chapters of books they are writing and putting them on the Internet. Now that—is foolish.
Thanks for your thoughts!
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Have you considered contacting the writer and (very civilly) asking what was up? And if he’s SURE he didn’t see your idea here first? Maybe he’ll cop to it and at least give you belated credit.
Or he might be a total douche… Never know…
By the way, Cher, because I know you’ve been checking, I finally got Part 1 of my Pittsburgh Adventure posted.. I hope to cover Part 2 (the game) tomorrow.
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Hey bluz!
…and Part 2. I hope you had a great time, but will get back to you after I read your blog.
Yes, I have been checking! Can’t wait to read this.
I have to let go of the idea business. I’m glad I vented a bit, but I know I had the idea first. The guy is probably cool. I’ll be watching HIS headlines for ideas. Ya never know….
just kidding
I’d rather do my own ideas. But if it happens again, you will hear me all the way in Baltimore!
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Cher, newspapers and blogs co exist pretty well. During the pres. campaign of 2008 in the USA CNN, ABC, CBS put often Internations in the section ‘what the blogs are saying’…)))
I am a professional (copy)writer, for 25 years (I use an editor for both my English and Dutch writtings since I dont give a damn about grammar, more interested in Concepts) so often people ‘stole’ my texts…but always hard to prove.
Be flattered about the fact that they copy paste your headings….as you remember, one of my first comments here was that this blog is very well written! Still!
Btw, in May 2010 my book ‘the Paranoid society’ will be released through Oxford Press…in English…editors are busy with editing.))!
My second book will probably ‘Two decades of the Joined States of America’….my very own experiences over there…
kindest
hans
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Hans,
You are so correct about the impact of blogs during the presidential campaign. And thank you for kind sentiments about our blog. I value your input.
Please do let us know when your books are released. Oxford Press is quite a good publisher. I am so happy for you and anxious to read your book!
My best to you,
cher
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It does seem a bit too similar in wording and close in timing to just be a coincidence. I don’t blog about anything news-worthy, but I can imagine how I would feel if a column very much like one of my recent and popular posts turned up in a local paper. I mean honestly if he did borrow some ideas (or get inspired) it wouldn’t have cost him anything to give you a brief shout-out! I think blogs and papers can coexist and I don’t see why professional courtesy can’t be extended between writers, no matter their medium!
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Tamara,
As a professional writer, you understand my angst, and I appreciate that. I guess I sounded a bit boorish, but it got on my nerves. I will chalk it up to experience. This time.
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