Kirk Barron

Last night I got a call from my editor telling me he saw one of my stories read nearly word-for-word on the 6 p.m. KHSL Action News 12 broadcast. It’s not uncommon for televisions to grep items from newspapers but usually they at least add a little television flair to it or reword it so it’s not an outright quote.

Here’s my story, and here’s the video from the CBS affiliate’s website.

Just in case that video disappears for whatever reason, here’s a transcript of what the reporter Ross Field starts his segment off with.

“The accolades keep rolling in for Maxwell High graduates Steven Perry and Tyler Wells, this time the recognition coming from Sports Illustrated.

The Panther duo appears in the latest issue on page 26 in the “Faces in the Crowd” section.

“Faces in the Crowd” is a regular series in Sports Illustrated which highlights several amateur athletes from around the world who did something noteworthy.

Well, Wells won the section MVP and Perry was the subject of several national sports articles after throwing 4 consecutive no hitters to tie a state record during the season.”

Field went on to touch on a few topics we already covered in the Sun-Herald about the records the two set and their friendship but at least they actually talked to Perry and Wells and the rest of the report wasn’t word for word.

I’ve worked at newspapers long enough to know this happens all the time. A few years back I shot a video in Stockton that a Sacramento television station ripped and ran without crediting me. I don’t remember which station did it, but The Record’s management contacted the station and worked something out with them.

I should probably start sending bills out to people who use my shit, which isn’t even that good, and are too lazy do write their own report. This wasn’t some crazy scoop, and it’s not like the video I took in Stockton where I was the only person to have that shot, it’s a run of the mill story that I wrote with a few phone calls in an hour or two. I’m lazy but I’m not so lazy I have to rip somebody else off without giving them credit.

Maybe it’s just the nature of the news game. Every reporter has several examples of when other outlets ripped them off. Most just pass it off as something that’s always happened and will never change. I don’t expect or necessarily want it to stop, it’s nice when something you create reaches a much wider audience but at least credit who you’re quoting.

For an industry with roots in keeping a transparent government, the media as a whole does a pretty shitty job of being transparent itself. It’s not just a television news thing. Give credit where credit is due and fess up when you fuck up. It’s pretty simple.