Thursday, July 5, 2012

Reporter sues over "press release" firing

There is little in this reporter's defense of his firing that makes sense to me. On the other hand, I think it would have been ethical (but lazy) to use chunks of a press release as long as you were clear to the reader that you had done that.
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This guy was fired for good reason. Any reporter worth his salt knows you can't just wholesale copy anything without attribution. In J school I think I remember something about a three or four word rule.

There are thousands of writers worth their salt who are out of work. Let's clear the deadwood.

05 July, 2012 23:55
Anonymous said...

As someone who left journalism a few years ago for the often rule-bending world of public relations, I can assure you that every press release writer knows these days that words from the release are likely to be lifted en masse directly to a story. And that's ok by me. I write to a message and it behooves me to have reporters too busy or too lazy to rewrite, reword or do their own interviews for quotes. That's why I send the press release. Take it baby. Take it all and use it. It's what I get paid for.

07 July, 2012 11:52
Jim of L-Town said...

As one who spent two years doing PR for a local school district, I totally understand what you are saying Anonymous 11:52. Many times they would turn my press releases into a bylined story (often with my name as the byline). I preferred that they used my exact words because that was pretty much the only way I could be sure that what I sent would be reported accurately.

Jim

07 July, 2012 13:48

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