A weekly deputy editor says national journalists who lift stories from the regional press without attribution should have to return to local newsrooms once every five years for a “refresher.”
Richard Osley, left, who works at the Camden New Journal, has hit out at the “horrified resistance” among some national journalists to crediting local newspapers for stories they publish.
Richard criticised the “magpie affection” some nationals hold for the CNJ’s stories, which he claims leads to an “almost weekly groan” among reporters when they see their story appear on another website.
Writing on his personal blog, Richard took the example of colleague Ella Jessel’s story about a priest’s decision to to bring music gigs into his church appearing on the Daily Telegraph’s website.
Local news industry leaders have long campaigned for national news organisations such as the BBC to credit local newspapers for their stories, although with mixed results.
Wrote Richard: “It’s only through the time, care and hard work which neighbourhood stories like this are brought to life through face-to-face and phone interviews, that time-consuming but fulfilling process of actually speaking to people.
“It seems only fair for the Telegraph, and others, if they won’t pay, to at least put ‘told the Camden New Journal’ in their reproductions, and yet there seems to be a strange, horrified resistance to doing this. It would surely be no skin off their noses, their online audience would not be appalled.
“People who hear our grumbles often say we should ring and complain. If you contact the Telegraph, and this is based on past experience, and ask why your story is running on their website, you will get passed around a few departments and eventually an offer of £20 or so will probably be made, which you can then spend a few more weeks chasing through other departments to actually get.
He added: “Often you’ll be told the story came from an agency which has spotted it and strung the article often with only a couple of words changed, and that they had no idea that the quotes were the work of a local journalist. While this may be the case, for big, famous newspapers like the Telegraph to take copy from agencies, with no questions asked about the source of the story, is a strange premise to work on. The editors in movies never allow that.”
Richard added that objections to such lack of accreditation were “often dismissed as the moans of hacks at the foot of journalism’s food chain.”
He concluded: “The solution to at least writing the local papers back into the wider story – crediting them in the text and, let’s go crazy, perhaps even with a web link – may lie in what industry camaraderie truly remains, as ultimately a standard culture of fair credit can only come from within.
“So here’s an idea: How’s about, once every five years or so, reporters on the nationals and the copy stringers could come back to work for a local for a week and get a refresher on how it ticks over in a place like the New Journal, to see the source. I just wonder if a peep inside, a reminder, would make them a little less light with their attribution.”
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Attribution’s fair enough, although I’m not sure readers will even notice let alone remember it. I can’t speak to how they do things in Camden but it works both ways. One of our local papers recently copied and pasted a story in its entirety from BBC Online with no credit whatsoever. You often see “follow ups” of national stories with no mention of the original.
Other than massaging the egos of journalists (I’m not saying that’s a bad thing) what other purpose does a credit serve? It’s hardly going to boost sales which should be the most pressing concern.
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It’s the norm in America to always credit where the story originated.
In the UK though most regional publishers have deals with agencies so by the time copy makes it way to the nationals it looks like agency copy, not from the local paper.
Can’t say I’m too bothered.
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i agree with Nfk n good,its all very good for the ego or maybe to add into a portfolio for a cv but is it really that important?
Yes it would be nice and you would hope the “copy and paster” would credit or acknowledge their sources but with the state of the regionals and the vast number of quality journalists and commercial people no longer working for the regionals there are more pressing and important matters to concern ourselves with and the end user/reader in all likelihood couldnt care less.
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One of my first duties as a newly-indentured junior reporter was to read all the dailies every morning and spot any local stories – then check with the chief reporter for advice.
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Much ado about nothing.
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The problem is the agencies, not the nationals, and what’s needed is payment, not attribution. Agencies religiously chase up payment for anyone who uses their copy. Local papers should do the same.
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This is a preposterous suggestion. I spent a lifetime in regional journalism during which time my scoops (they were many) were re-produced by national newspapers and broadcasters. I never received an acknowledgement – and neither did the titles. I didn’t care; I knew it was my original story and so did my editors and that’s all that mattered. And of course, the readers of the source newspaper or the recipient don’t give a fig either. These days, many newspapers – notably the Daily Mail – often say ‘Mr Snot told the Invercockaleekie Twice Yearly Calendar . . . ‘ – so why the fuss? Just London luvvies getting all precious again.
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Forget the credit for the paper–go for the dough! When I worked in weekly papers, the money we made by selling our stories through the office lineage pool more than made up for the meagre earnings from our employer. It was a great incentive to bring in good exclusives, which we phoned out to the nationals just before our paper hit the streets, ensuring that our own publication had the story first and we thwarted any agency trying to lift the copy. We even had our own accountant to sort out tax–and the editor actively encouraged us. Of course that was another era . Does anyone still run a lineage pool?
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Prodnose
‘ lineage pool’?
Does anyone still have an ‘editor’ ?
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