To narc? Or not to narc?

Being professional includes "policing" your ranks, yes. Seeing something as being a tattle-tale or ignoring it because "what's it going to gain?" is similarly unprofessional.

 

I know, right?

But, the truth is, media companies are not very good at reporting on others in the industry, and they're terrible at reporting on themselves.

And, it hurts the industry.

Now, here's my Baron analogy:

The used car dealer in town is rolling back odometers. Do you do the story?

 

How isbthe newspaper perpetrating fraud on its customers?

 

Depends how much advertising they bought. Once had a publisher of a major daily who also worked as an assistant editor at a major national paper tell a room full of editors and reporters we would have to apologize to big advertisers for the stories we run if they hurt business.

 

They're marketing their news stories as first hand, in person accounts of the events, when they are not.

They're marketing their news stories as independent reporting. They are not.

 

Putting a dateline on the story does not mean the guy was sitting in the arena watching the game.

 

The dateline and byline combination means that, at least within the industry. Readers probably have all sorts of wrong assumptions on these things.

 

Putting an NHL gamer -- complete with quotes -- in a newspaper is understood to mean the reporter was at the game. This has always been true, and you know it.

To pretend that this is not a willful misleading of the reader is ridiculous.

And, if there's nothing wrong with it, the reporter and the paper would be open and honest about it.

There would also be no question of "narcing" on the writer in question if he did nothing wrong.

There is also the unanswered question if said reporter's couch is actually in the same city as the NHL team's arena.

 

Read the original post again.

" ... significant health problems ... "

So you're ripping on this fraudulent fellow with health problems who's telling the story of the game with quotes because, by and large, he's stealing a chance from other freelancers.

Shouldn't be hard to start finding Mr. Fraudulence:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/scoreboard?d=2013-03-18

 

If you're covering an event in its aftermath, you need only file the story from the city to use the dateline. You can set foot in the city for two minutes if you choose.

If you are covering a live event, with a dateline, it is understood that you are/were at the event. That is understood.

And, if you were not at the event, you need to make that clear to your reader. And, if you don't, you should be called on it.

 

Right. Thanks for explaining that.

Coffee goes in the filter.

 

I'm sorry the fella is sick, but you don't get to skip out of ethical standards by playing the sympathy card.