Giving credit to blogs: Why it matters

I'm a little annoyed today at mainstream journalists who don't credit stories broken by bloggers, either failing to give credit or sometimes waiting for months to write an article until they have original research to add.

Though I could cite several recent examples, today's case study comes from reporter Steve McGonigle at the Dallas Morning News ("TYC finding new leaders in the state's troubled prison system," Sept. 16).

To give credit where it's due, finally the News today became the first mainstream media outlet to question why Governor Perry appointed Ed Owens to run the Texas Youth Commission. As Grits and other bloggers reported soon after his appointment, less than a year previously the state had paid out a mid-six figures court settlement in response to charges that Owens and other TDCJ administrators covered up allegations of sexual abuse at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Was Owens really the right choice to run an agency where incarcerated youth had been sexually abused? As I wrote March 10:

So you're Texas Governor Rick Perry. The Texas Youth Commission is in the middle of a sex scandal that your advisers are telling you is only going to get worse. What do you do?

I'll tell you what Governor Perry did: He appointed a man to run the agency for whom the state last year paid to settle allegations in a civil suit that he (and others) ignored sexual harassment complaints from subordinates at his old employer, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Holy Mother of God, who is advising the Governor on TYC?

This information should have run in March when it really could have helped, before Ed Owens was elevated to conservator. I'm not saying Mr. McGonigle (who I don't know) didn't do a lot of extra research - he did, and it's appreciated. The Dallas News filed open records requests about the case that illuminated the story further, and even published many of the records online (see below).

But by waiting so long, the News gave the Governor cover for elevating Owens--and most readers will never know that the Governor's denials are clearly suspect.

McGonigle wrote: "The governor's office did not know about the federal discrimination lawsuit until informed by The News, spokeswoman Krista Moody acknowledged." Well, hardly. The Governor's office learned about this at the same time as the Dallas News reporters. That's a convenient fib for both reporter and source - it implies that the Governor's office can't be held responsible and also that the Dallas News just now broke the story.

A little courtesy and common netiquette from MSM reporters (as described in this excellent blog post on the symbiotic relationship between MSM and blogs) could have revealed this story to the public six months ago at a time when Owens was regularly being questioned before the Legislature.

Right after Jay Kimbrough first hired Ed Owens as acting ED these questions were raised, first on The Back Gate (n.b., site down this afternoon), then on Grits where I published the primary court documents, and also on former warden Terry Pelz's TexasJustice.org. I know for a fact that all the major legislative decisionmakers and also then-conservator Jay Kimbrough were informed of the Grits posts about settlement after Owens' appointment as interim executive director but before he was elevated to conservator.

I know this because I forwarded the posts to everybody I could think of who might care - including reporters at the News. At one point after writing this item asking why the MSM hadn't covered the story, I was told by a News reporter the paper was following up and a story could be published at any time. The story now published uses as sources both documents posted on Grits and several people I either talked to this spring or who wrote extensively in Grits' comments. Here are the items I published on the topic at the time:

• The Back Gate: Ed Owens wrong leader for TYC
• Settled lawsuit alleged TYC's Ed Owens covered up sex abuse allegations at TDCJ!
• Is the party already over for TYC's Ed Owens?
• Where is press coverage on these big stories?
  
• Ed Owens: New TYC Czar
• Will TDCJ take over TYC by stealth? Have they already?
  

If MSM journalists respect blogs like Grits enough to scour them for stories, angles and research, then they need to attribute sources to blogs just like they do other sources. Here's how Matt Ufford over at FanHouse puts it (found via Kuff):

Traditional media as a whole -- from the oldest old-timiest old-school publisher to the youngest beat writer out of J-school -- needs to undergo a sea change. The mainstream media's refusal to acknowledge its symbiotic relationship with blogs is not only irresponsible, it's unethical. And until editors and producers hold their writers and on-air talent to higher standards of journalistic integrity, you can expect bloggers to continue doing it for them.

I think most MSM editors wouldn't consider McGonigle's story "unethical," per se. He sought out the sources I and other bloggers quoted independently, and filed open records request to add information so it wouldn't appear he'd ONLY recycled blog-generated material. But that process wound up taking six months, and by the time the story was published it had tumbled from the category of "news that might effect key decisions" to mere trivia, a post-script about a long-ago made decision.

That wouldn't be necessary if MSM reporters would just admit they picked the story up from the blogs and cover it just like they do stories from anybody else. Blogs and the MSM are complementary media, not direct competitors, so I don't see the incentive to go to such lengths to avoid giving other people credit for their work.

Here are some of the documents McGonigle got under open records, and I may go through them in more detail in a future post:

Equal employment opportunity documents related to the Sammy Buentello case

• Download: Lawsuit against TDCJ and supervisors who managed Sammy Buentello
• Download: TDCJ Equal Employment Opportunity office reports on Sammy Buentello
• Download: Equal employment opportunity case action/comment history report
• Download: TDCJ personnel files on Sammy Buentello
• Download: Resolution of criminal case, State of Texas vs. Salvador Buentello

Sensitive documents

Victims' statements
These are victims' statements to investigators with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Office of Inspector General. The investigation focused on allegations of sexual abuse and harassment by TDCJ gang expert Sammy Buentello.
WARNING: These documents contains sexually explicit material that some readers may find disturbing.
Read victims' statements

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Witnesses' statements
These are wtinesses' statements to investigators with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Office of Inspector General. The investigation focused on allegations of sexual abuse and harassment by TDCJ gang expert Sammy Buentello.
WARNING: These documents contains sexually explicit material that some readers may find disturbing.
Read witnesses' statements

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Investigators' case reports and notes
These are reports and notes compiled by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Office of Inspector General. The investigation focused on allegations of sexual abuse and harassment by TDCJ gang expert Sammy Buentello.
WARNING: These documents contains sexually explicit material that some readers may find disturbing.
Read the reports and notes