Canadian bloggers still having trouble getting credit for their contribution
I keep reminding myself that the most important thing is the Canadians are now learning that they might have dangerously defective tires on their minivans and SUVs. That's what matters. But as an aside, I have to say I feel a bit cheated that the work I did to reveal that this might be the case has not been credited.
I shouldn't be this thin-skinned, but then all bloggers are cheated when this happens, so it's not just about me.
I've been on a slow burn for the last few hours. Something that didn't bother me too much at first has been gnawing at me.
I broke the story that Rakla Tires of Mississauga was selling tires that are about to be recalled in the United States for fear that a major defect could result in terrible accidents. I'm particularly pleased about how I made the circumstantial case that the Westlake tires being sold to Canadians came from the Hangzhou Zhonce Rubber Company factory by breaking out the frame-based Rakla website and spotting "Hangzhou" and "Westlake" in the otherwise hidden URL.
It wasn't rocket science, but a casual web user would never have spotted it, or even known how to spot it.
So then I read this on the CTV report on the Westlake-branded Hangzhou tire story:
One of the worst disasters a driver can face is when a tire sheds its tread. But CTV News has found imported tires from China prone to that kind of failure for sale in Canada, despite a recall in the United States.
Well, actually, I found that those tires, of that brand, from that manufacturer, were on sale at Rakla. I'm pretty sure CTV didn't find it because they contacted me via Facebook a mere hour after I posted:
Hi Steve,
I work at CTV National News and I recently read a blog posting of yours regarding tires made in China under the name of Westlake, Telluride, Compass and YKS.
Could you call me sometime today at 416.xxx.xxxx? I'd be interested in speaking to you.
Best regards,
[name withheld]
416.xxx.xxxx
I walked this person through the story, explained who Rakla was, and how I determined the link to the Chinese factory.
Hey, maybe CTV had found the same thing as I did on their own, but they never said that, and it sure sounded like this person had never heard of Rakla before I mentioned it.
Certainly the CTV story went deeper. They found tires for sale at stores. I have a day job and can't go investigating away from my desk. That's why I'm happy to see a story move up to the main stream media. I know they can do so much more with it.
But I published first, and I'm pretty sure I found Rakla before anyone else did. I think they call that scooping the story.
The most important thing is that the story is out there. That hasn't changed. But when bloggers break news, all bloggers share in the credibility boost that comes from that. When no credit is given, bloggers as a whole are cheated.
I don't want to get anyone in trouble, and I've withheld the name of the person who contacted me. I doubt that person was even responsible for the form the story took.
I do wish in the future Canadian news organizations take their cue from the National Post, which is easily the most blogger-friendly major media operation in Canada. Besides giving me a link from their Full Comment in-house blog, the National Post has never failed to mention me in a story that I helped break, identifying me by name and in the role of a blogger.
Call it professional courtesy. Unless you're a reporter who would be offended to think of bloggers as professionals. If so, just call it common courtesy. Certainly bloggers are worthy of that.
I don't want to start screening calls from the media interested in a story I've had the good fortune to break, deciding whether to respond based on whether I think I'll be given some tiny credit for helping out. It ought to be a given that the credit will be there.
But the most important thing is that the story is out there. I just have to keep reminding myself of that.
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Comments
Well Steve, just keep in mind, that as an engineer (don't know if you are a professional or not), we are all obligated to protect the public safety. Good job, and you are a credit to the profession.
However, if a story were to come out that did not involve the public safety, I would think the good folks at CTV would certainly not have their phone calls returned as quickly as the National Post would.
Or perhaps the next time CTV were to express interest in an article, you might just pick up the phone and ask someone at a paper that gives proper attribution and credit the opportunity to run with it.
The ethical thing to do would be for CTV and the Globe to attribute the work that went into this to you. I'm hardly surprised they don't do this. Space considerations my ass. The sentence in their article "He said the tires could be as dangerous as the defective Firestone models taken off the market in 2000.", could have easily been replaced by the sentence "Canadian blogger Steve Janke managed to track tires similar to the ones being recalled in the US, to distributors in Canada."
Posted by: mecheng at June 29, 2007 12:58 PM
And some bloggers called me arrogant for the last line that I wrote on this post:
http://www.stephentaylor.ca/archives/000764.html
Posted by: Stephen Taylor at June 29, 2007 02:06 PM
I noticed it on the toothpaste story. Every radio report I heard reported a "Cambridge man found ... in a dollar store in Guelph." No! Cambridge blogger, Steve Janke, found...
It's not like your some little guy either, your one of the big wheels in the blogging community.
By the way - how do you like Cambridge? I have been meaning to invite you and the family over, but it never gets done.
Posted by: Brian Gardiner at June 29, 2007 02:17 PM
Steve, you're always about 48 hours ahead of the waterheads in the mainstream.
It's a shame that those ghouls won't give you props. I guess they're too busy working on their fiction pieces..
Posted by: Levesque at June 29, 2007 02:30 PM
This is a totally valid complaint. It is also not the first time that I have seen the MSM grab something from the blogosphere and run with it.
Bloggers, everywhere should hold this type of theft in contempt. Good on you for raising this.
Posted by: leftdog at June 29, 2007 03:00 PM
Remember - the most important thing is that the story is out there.
Posted by: Steve Janke at June 29, 2007 03:07 PM
I just noticed this mentioned on Bourque. I am utterly disgusted.
Keep your chin up and hold your head high, Steve, you are doing important work on your blog and it DOES matter !!!!
(And props to Bourque for giving this issue the prominence it deserves.)
Posted by: Manny at June 29, 2007 03:24 PM
I admit I got caught up in the anti-Bourque uproar earlier this month. Hey, I'm a Liberal Kinsella Kool-Aid drinker :)
But somehow, he's redeemed himself by headlining Steve's slight. Shame on CTV.
I, for one, would demand a correction, Steve. Don't let those a**holes get you down.
Posted by: lulu at June 29, 2007 03:53 PM
Hey, don't get too chuffed. The guy is probably a Grad of
the Sudbury School of Journalism. Nuff said.
You earned him an "atta boy" from his boss, but the important thing is you helped save lives.
There was also another MONSTER story out of the U.S.
last week concerning the Chinese trade behemoth, and no Canadian journo spotted it. See if you
can find it, but don't give it to CTV.
Cheers Ron Jack in B.C.
Posted by: Ronald Jack at June 29, 2007 04:05 PM
Its called professional misconduct if your article/reasearch was used without your permission, or is copywrite infridgement, or is it a mere reflection of how the mainstream media assumes they sit next to God.
I think somebody should ask CTV how often they steal from other bloggers? Surely the broadcast/journalist profession has a code of conduct or an ethics framework.
How 'bout this: Cdn bloggers band together and deny CTV personnel access to their blog. It sure would make a sweet banner ad at the top of everybody's blog for about a week.... hehe. A news story in itself
COPY: CTV personnel are banned!
If they aint going to be friendly why should you?
Posted by: Barley at June 29, 2007 04:26 PM
Hey Steve,
Thank you for all you do. I check your site many times a day. I no longer read or rely on MSM in any form (print or TV). You may not get credit where credit is due, however, I want you to know how important people like you are to people like me
Posted by: at June 29, 2007 04:28 PM
Barley, quit drinking your hops, you ding-a-ling. You've gone off the deep-end.
Posted by: Url at June 29, 2007 04:37 PM
Reveal the coward who called you.
Posted by: ferrethouse at June 29, 2007 07:33 PM
awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
Posted by: J. Tee at June 29, 2007 07:53 PM
Typical...the media, artistic and cultural establishment of Canada has become has so intellecutally stagnant, lazy, arrogant and parasitic that they have to resort to stealing the work from the decent people of Canada.
This degeneracy is a sad reflection upon the times we live in.
To Steve I say you should rat out the CTV jerkoff who punked your story as an example to the rest of the parasites in Canadian media.
Finally Steve godspeed to you for being a good citizen for getting this story out; you most likely saved alot of lives through this action.
Posted by: J Mo at June 29, 2007 08:53 PM
Remember, the Force will be with you, always.
Posted by: Phil at June 29, 2007 09:17 PM
It's high time the media did more to credit their sources, but it's a state of affairs of which most (including most bloggers) are at least occasionally at fault.
Even you have acknowledged from time to time that you have private sources for certain stories who have chosen to go unnamed. And acknowledging that a source is private is important.
But when a source is public, it would be appropriate for the media organizations (or bloggers who cite the facts) to properly acknowledge both their primary and their corroborating sources. Anything less bears the taint of plagiarism. If the story isn't that reporter's own, original (or properly accredited) work, there is little doubt but that it is plagiarism.
Posted by: Paul O at June 29, 2007 11:32 PM
Bloggers -especially conservative bloggers- are a huge and painful thorn in the side of the mainstream media.
Those 'defenders of freedom' that we call the press, enjoyed complete control over what news we were allowed to hear -until bloggers came along and started pointing out obvious biases, highlighting stories that were buried, airing facts in some stories that were otherwise not reported and even on occasion exposing outright lies.
I know you go out of your way to be fair to the media, but given your constant digging into the news -far deeper than most of us do (or else we wouldn't bother coming here), does this really surprise you ? Not that I blame you for being annoyed. You have every right to be.
You will also never be considered for the office of the Governor General, any posh Ambassador posting, the Order of Canada, or a job with the CBC (stepping stone to all of the above).
But hey, we like you anyways :-)
Posted by: up north at June 30, 2007 10:45 AM
 
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