ABC steals from NYT

[TJAB 23]

Anyone see Good Morning America???

They did the cheerleader story that the New York Times featured this weekend...

While I don't mind the story - a very important one - I do mind the fact that ABC basically ripped off the Times - almost word for word (especially in the lead-in).

Sad...

Is ABC that lazy??!?!?!

[Marty McFly]

Uh, yeah. TV stations NEVER get stories from the paper... :rolleyes:

[TJAB 23]

Now they're ripping off the French.

Diane Sawyer: "Well, we've done it! We've cracked the puzzle of the Egyptian pyramids"

Who is "we"?

Surely, it's ABC, right? No.

Well, by "we" she has to mean America, right? No.

It was a French architect.

Who writes these lead-ins?

[a shooter]

you're just noticing this NOW? do you ever watching ANY of the network morning shows?

[Ferrycrossthemersey]

Without newspapers, none of us would be on the air, but...to rip off the Times WORD FOR WORD is a very bad thing called plagarism.

[The Mockingbird]

I think it is okay, as long as they use a question mark on the banner.

A question mark makes all things legal, it will even get you across the hot lava (the blacktop by the four square court)in grammar school games of space tag.

[Diplomat]

For ABC's sake, if they had to steal a story from the NYT, I hope they stole one that's true. :D

[ April 03, 2007, 11:18 AM: Message edited by: Diplomat ]

[Spike]

Back when I worked at a shop that had a beat system, we would break stories all the time that the newspaper would then pick up for the next day. So I've seen this from the other side, and I say: It doesn't really matter.

That's because if it's a good story, there's no reason for one outlet not to carry it simply because they didn't get to it first. What service does it provide to your readers or viewers to not present them with a story? It isn't "stealing" to do a story that someone else has already done, because the other station has no ownership over that story. If you know about news but don't report it, aren't you failing in your mission to your audience?

Newspaper reporters do get angry when teevee people chase stories they broke. They do have some justification for that anger, because most television stations rarely break stories and often let the newspapers do their legwork for them, then take all the credit from the semiliterate masses who don't read the newspaper. I would be irritated by that if I were in their shoes, but it doesn't change the fact that a newsworthy story or even a story that is simply entertaining is not owned by anyone in particular and is fair game to everyone, including the free riders.

Plagiarism is a different matter. Direct copying is never acceptable. Can the original poster post some copy and/or links from these two stories so we can see how close in wording they really are? I can't help but wonder if the original poster is exaggerating their similarity.

[ZuZu's Petals]

When I was in a very small market... sometimes our station would pursue stories, break them and then watch them on the other stations and see them in the paper a week later.

It's like we were so far ahead that the other guys didn't even know it was news until they heard it around the water cooler.

Once, I busted my butt on a story with the Air Force base... about a certain technology that they said they couldn't demonstrate for us in real time. I had to use a substitute and describe the process.

The very next day... all the other stations lined up to do the story and the AFB performed the process in real time.
GRRRRRRR.

[2:30]

You're missing the point. Have you ever watched a network weekend nightly news? Or, for that matter, a weekday show?

It it's in the Times or the Washington Post, it has an excellent chance of making the show.

[CKMD]

We ignore paper stories and press release stories here. Normally, the newspaper does stories the next day after we've already done them.
So, yes, there are stations that don't need a newspaper.