Ethics on double dipping?

Why should the writer be up front? Newspapers pay for a story filed before a certain time. If exclusivity matters, an editor should be up front about it instead of whining about an unwritten code.

 

Ragu, it's funny that you advocate for writers to be up front when you support the financial system that is based on deceit.

 

Can we stay on topic and stay away from uncalled for cheap shots please?

 

This is why.

This isn't a one-way street. In any contract -- and that's what this is, written or not -- both sides should be clear about what they are doing and what is expected. Should they tell you what they expect to get in terms of rights and exclusivity? Sure. But you need to let them know what you expect as well. So if you want the right to sell the same story to someone else, you need to tell them that before entering into the contract.

Plus, you might want to work for that editor -- or one of his many editor friends -- in the future. Good luck with that if you go behind his back and get caught.

BTW, even if you're filing separate stories on the same event, you need to let all outlets know. Again, some outlets might not be comfortable with that arrangement, and there are all sorts of potential logistical pitfalls.

 

I'm a little unclear as to the reasons for some of the edgy feelings in this discussion.

I think it's just common, I dunno, politeness (decency?) to let somebody you're doing a freelance job for that you're also working for somebody else on the same event.

If I'm paying you a (pretty good) freelance fee, I wouldn't even consider that you'd file the same story for somebody else without letting me know.

That said, I suppose that if you file two different stories, and you hit my deadline, then it really doesn't matter if you tell me about the other job.

But if I'm the writer, I'd like both places I'm writing for to know.

 

define original.

story A: Joe Blow bashed his 20th home run and 5th game-winning hit of the season....

story B: Joe Blow's 5th game-winning hit of the season and his 20th home run....

different. same information, same game, same characters, but different.

 

Why do editors care about getting original stories from freelancers being paid $50 a pop when they are content on running the same AP copy seen in hundreds of newspapers across the country?

 

It matters to me .... but that's a hell of a great question.

 

If I were in a position where I ran AP stories in my paper, that would be a good question. But, as it is, I'm at a local shop where it's all hyper-local preps coverage. As such, if I hire out a stringer for a story, I want something that's JUST going to be found in my paper because, well, otherwise it doesn't feel to me as if it's OUR paper covering the event.

We don't run AP so why would we want to run canned copy that could appear everywhere else?

 

Your paper doesn't run anything that doesn't appear in another paper in the chain?

 

We do but (for sports) we have a strict policy that it's got to be either 50-50 or separate stories.