Angry in the Great White North

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.