When sources scoop you

Mediabistro features a story today on how a reporter interviewed a blogger and found the entire e-mail exchange posted on said blogger’s site before the publishing of her story.

Take heed scribes, for as Mediabistro’s Greg Lindsay writes:

“So, the idea of sources publishing their interviews and spinning accordingly — without knowing what part they play in the larger story — promises to complicate their relationship even further, a headache that working stiffs don’t need.”

Journalists should be notified that this could happen to them unless they explicitly state the interview is not for publication with their sources.

Author: Danny Sanchez

Danny Sanchez is the Audience Development Manager at Tribune's Sun-Sentinel.com and OrlandoSentinel.com. Danny has been with Tribune since 2005 in a variety of editorial, digital and product development roles in Hartford, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. He has also previously worked in the newsrooms of the Tampa Bay Times and The Miami Herald.