Sun Editor Campanini responds to question about Blog Post..
Posted: January 18, 2012 Filed under: Politics 8 Comments »
I think this is just Dick’s way of getting me writing more frequently (it worked).
I know I keep saying I’m cutting down but other people keep writing interesting Post and I keep reading and getting curious so I ask questions and then feel compelled to share the responses to provide the rest of the story.
Over on RichardHowe.com, Dick has a post titled The Globe & the Sun on fees – in stereo that highlights a story in the Globe followed by an Editorial in the SUN that featured many of the same facts and in almost identical sentences without the Sun ever mentioning the Globe story.
I have my disagreements with the Editor but to even imply /suggest in the slightest roundabout way that any type of plagiarism took place is a very tough accusation against a “professional” newspaper. Especially in light of the fact that again this year, making for a 5th time overall the New England News and Press Association is honoring Mr. Campanini with an award for editorial writing on Feb. 11 in Boston.
So I asked the Editor if he would please respond to the similarities and comment on the post.
Here is his response:
Mr. Nutter,
First of all, I see no coincidence in the fact that The Globe was the first to do a story and The Sun was the first to write an editorial on the same subject _ and vice versa. It happens all the time in this business.
Second, the staff person who wrote the editorial – while new to the task – conveyed THE FACTS of the Globe article. A fact is a fact.
Third, the staff person who wrote the editorial used those facts to articulate an opinion over rising and hidden fees.
Fourth, the staff person who wrote the editorial could have – and probably should have – made reference to the original Globe article as a reference point. I will have to make that a point of discussion with this person.
However, like I said previously, other media entities scour the journalistic landscape for editorial ideas and write editorials on the same subject all the time. Sometimes they take a different viewpoint or they concur. Rarely, do they mention where the idea came from unless they believe the editorial to be blatantly false.
I took issue with a Globe editorial several months ago that criticized Niki Tsongas’ proposal to make New Balance shoes, which are made in America, an option for U.S. Soldiers who are given choices from overseas. The Globe wrote the first editorial and I chimed in with an opposite take, using the economy and U.S. Jobs in Lawrence as the key reasons for making New Balance the official military sneaker.
Jim Campanini
Editor
Campi writes: However, like I said previously, other media entities scour the journalistic landscape for editorial ideas and write editorials on the same subject all the time. Sometimes they take a different viewpoint or they concur. Rarely, do they mention where the idea came from unless they believe the editorial to be blatantly false. (bold mine)
Here is another instant where the Denver bosses should take note. In the “media entities” known as blogs, the standard is to link back to the source document. This is a practice that is the norm, not the exception.
I do it to give due credit for the work that tickled my muse; but also, as fair use laws limit how much can be cited directly, to allow readers to go back and see the full context. It may be an odd notion to the Editor of the Blog of Record that it is ‘okay’ to allow a reader to see the other side of the arguement or to escape the frame provided. It’s a respect thing.
He is full of it. And blaming a “staff person”? You’re in charge. Take responsibility. Never mind that I think he’s lying. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck its plagiarism. Basic concept for any journalist to understand. Hell, basic concept for any high school student. Of course, Campanini will go unscathed from above. What does he have on the publisher?
I’m with you Cassie, campi’s full of it.
1966 Horse of the Year = Campi
You have got to be kidding me!!!!! Another reason why editorials should be signed by the author, it takes away the writers ability to hide from his/her ideas or opinions. Using a pen name on a blog is one thing but not having the courage of your convictions in a newspaper with a circulation the size of the Sun’s is journalistic cowardice.
I wish George Orwell was alive so he could explain to me what Campi just wrote.
[...] Sun editorial and a January 5th Boston Globe article (which Gerry Nutter investigated further HERE). In a comment to my post, Mike Luciano alluded to a piece he had written several years ago in [...]
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THANKS FOR YOUR TIME, HOPE TO SEE YOU AT THE SUBCOMMITEE MEETING
CAUSE I KNOW YOU LOVE TO HAVE THE LATEST NEWS FIRST,
MARIE GREEN BROWN