Is The Washington Business Journal Ripping Off The Gallery Place Living Blog? (You Decide!) *Prediction Update*

Curiously, the WBJ wasn’t interested in my post on the self checkout machine at the DC Public Library!

Don’t you think it’s possible they’re just doing their own reporting about publicly available information?

morris: Quite possible, but here are some challenges:

In the case of the C3 Fix announcement, the permit had been posted in the window for several weeks prior to our reporting on it. The permit was posted in the window on February 16th and we were slow to report on it until March 10th. The WBJ didn’t report on it until March 30. Yet, the WBJ had almost the same “lag time” as when we reported on the Bar Louie permit that we found just 5 days after it had been posted on the door.

There was no publicly available info in the Marvelous Market closing at least until a reader observed it closing.

big deal…

the lag time is kind of too long for a rip-off don’t you think? Also, the WBJ author sometimes adds details that GP Living didn’t have. For example, WBJ knew that the C3Fix would be named CoCo — not mentioned or known by GPL.

Is it possible that the WBJ author lives in the neighborhood?

Well, I think it is a big deal. When stories are published, the authors typically credit their sources. It is an act of common courtesy, as well as an act of professionalism. I would hate to think that the WBJ was not crediting its source, if that is the case.

I think thats very funny. Goes to show that this blog is a terrific source for the latest info — good job!

Anon #1: I agree – the WBJ adds a lot of detail and value to the topics! That’s the kind of work that a group of bloggers couldn’t do unless this was a full time job.

is it usually the same reporter?

it’s just my gut, but i think it’s blatant plagiarism. it’s WAYYYY too coincidental.

just some advice: seettle out of court.

Anon: I’m not interested in court, just credit (if in fact the blog is the source of info).

I suspect that the WBJ may regard our blog as neighborhood gossip and conversation, so picking up leads here isn’t to them like plagiarizing journalist’s leads. It’s more like listening in on a conversation and thinking, “hmmm, that might be useful.”

So, to head them off, we change the blog name to Gallery Place Journalism (or, Gallery Place Post, which has a nice ring to it) and our “Contributors” (Gal, PQResident, etc.) now become “Staff Writers.”

Thus, “Posted by GPLiving…” becomes “By GPLiving, Gallery Place Journalism Staff Writer.” And those of us without our “journalism” credentials become “sources.” Thus, “cityliving said” becomes “Source cityliving reports…”

To really gussy it up, we create a masthead with a somber and archaic font and declare an Executive Editor and maybe a Deputy Director.

And – here’s the coup de grâce – at the bottom of the masthead we put © 2007 Gallery Place Journalism.

Then, just sit back and watch the attributions flow in the WBJ (or make their writers get off their duffs and scout the neighborhood for leads). And maybe, just maybe, that invitation to next year’s Annual Gridiron Dinner will come in the mail.

cityliving: Well, the staff will have to discuss all of those suggestions, but one thing we did immediately was put the copyright notice on the footer (not that we *had* to do that).

I’m with rr446. I realize you must put in a lot of work updating this blog, GPliving, but isn’t imitation the sincerest form of flattery? Journalists’ leads have to come from somewhere, right?

Personally, I like that the WaBizJo picks up on stories and does some real reporting on the truth behind the rumors. Like it or not, print journalism has way more credibility than blogs, especially random comments posted on blogs. Thanks GPliving for being a great neighborhood resource, and thanks WaBizJo for filling in the blanks!

And how about a motto in Latin?

As far as I can tell, the journalist took your tips and made the necessary phone calls to sources to confirm details. In this case, this blog provided the tip, the reporter did his own work to confirm it.

In those cases, it’s not ripping off, rather you are tipping them off.

Huge difference in journalism circles.

Great blog, by the way. News organizations can’t compete with such on the ground reporting. (from a journalist, not from DC)

I don’t argue that the reporter is not doing any work of her own.

I do argue the presumption that blog posts are classified as “tips.” I have a pen name & contact info, the posts have dates, times, and sources, and the posts are published to be read by the public.

In several of the “ripped” posts, I have pictorial evidence of primary sources (liquor license and DCRA permit).

Tack onto that a single reporter who systematically scrapes this blog for sourced info – without giving it credit – and you have an unhappy neighborhood blog.

Words are cheap. Credit the blog.

GPL is a neighborhood conversation. that said, we do perform some basic fact checking on stories and the continued month over month growth in readership is a likely indicator that people find real added value in reading GPL. to me, that means they look to GPL for neighborhood news.

the good news (no pun intended) is that there is a flow of information in both directions – blog to traditional media and vice versa. what was mostly an open loop system (people providing reporters with tips with vague or no attribution) is now more closed loop (blogs tip reporters and newspapers reference blogs specifically). blogs bring eyeballs to traditional media and some media web sites (WaPo, Washingtonian) link back to blogs via Technorati or direct links. that way, everybody gets credit in print, even if it is virtual.