The Chronicle should give credit for using MOFYC/Wilson piece (and did... updated)

The Glens Falls weekly Chronicle picked up the most recent story published here written by Mark Wilson... sort of. This was part of Wilson’s series examining troubles at the rival daily Post-Star. But in his article, Chronicle editor Mark Frost referred to, “A blog that a Chronicle reader referred us to put those numbers in perspective...”

His piece did not include the name of this blog, a URL to Wilson's article or, what should have been the bare minimum, Wilson's name.

The excellent blog entry did not appear out of thin air. Mark Wilson has done a lot of research to put together that piece and the entire series. Frost ought to have acknowledged Wilson in his article as the person who “put those numbers in perspective.”

We hear mainstream media journalists complaining all the time about bloggers ‘stealing’ their content without attribution but here it’s just the opposite.

Blogger Wilson did all the work of “putting those numbers in perspective” in a piece of journalism as good as anything you’d read in either The Chronicle or The Post-Star. But Frost used the material Wilson compiled without bothering to credit him. Frost mentioned that he saw it in a blog but consciously chose to not include details about the source, which is even more of a slap in the face to Wilson’s efforts.

This amateur blog’s policy is to always give attribution to material taken from other sources and, whenever possible, to link directly to it. I’ve occasionally referenced articles from The Chronicle, but always with credit given. A professional newspaper operation should do the same.

As such, I’d like to remind readers of that which is listed in the blog’s masthead: Essays are available for re-print, with the explicit permission of the publisher. mofycbsj @ yahoo.com. If brief excerpts are going to be used or if the piece is going to be mentioned in passing, attribution must be given.

Although I don’t usually agree with Frost’s political opinions, I generally consider him someone who tries to be fair-minded. Frost does like claim he stands up for the little guy. As such, he could start by giving the little guy credit for his work.

A discussion is planned with Mr. Frost and we hope they will run a clarification in the next issue. Stay tuned!

Update: The weekly agreed to run a clarification in the next issue crediting Mr. Wilson for his work. We thank Mr. Frost for his cooperation.

Further update: The weekly did run a clarification in yesterday's issue. It was something like "Mark Wilson stopped by the office to request attribution" rather than "I (Mark Frost) failed to give attribution" (which should have been a no-brainer in the first place). But proper credit was finally given albeit, it seems, grudgingly.

A note about ads and about comments

This blog subscribes to the Google AdSense program. The theory being that maybe after a decade, I might be able to make a few dollars as a result of the 7 people who generously spend their time reading this blog.

One anonymous commenter* asked why s/he saw an ad that read: "Support Joe Bruno. Voice your support for Joe Bruno! Read the Truth."

Joe Bruno, of course, is the former longtime leader of the New York Senate's Republican majority who was recently indicted on public corruption charges.

The ads are not chosen by me. They are automatically generated by Google based on keywords of the content of the blog. Since I've used the word 'Republican' quite a bit in regards to Congressional candidate Jim Tedisco, I presume this is how this ad was linked to my blog.



*-Reminder: Although this blog's commenting policy bans unsigned comments for reasons I will not re-hash yet again, it does NOT ban anonymous ones. Nor does it require you to be a member of Blogger to comment. If you wish to leave a comment signing only a first name or nickname or pseudonym of your choice, you can do so by clicking on Post A Comment and then under Choose an Identity, click Name/URL. The URL part is optional. If you do it this way, I only ask that you use the same nickname/pseudonym each time you post for the sake of continuity.

New citizen blogs

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

One of the great things about the website of The Albany Times-Union, timesunion.com, is its blogs' section which now contains a new sub-section devoted to Capital Region Voices.

Glens Falls' (and Saratoga's too, depending on where you pick it up) "Hometown Daily" limits its blogs to people who already have columns or articles in the paper. Basically, it gives more space to people who already have space.

What's nice about timesunion.com is that, while it does have some blogs for editors and staff members, it also offers a platform for ordinary people whose voices aren't already represented in the print edition. It presents readers with new, alternative voices, something badly lacking in mainstream journalistic enterprises.

One of the excellent new blogs is written by the widely respected and admired Albany social justice advocate Dr. Alice Green.

Another new one is authored by local political activist, baker and friend of this blog Matt Funiciello.

Happy birthday Adirondack Almanack

Friends over at Adirondack Almanack are marking the fourth anniversary of their site. The Almanack is one of the few independent blogs I read regularly as it offers the best online concentration of news and features about the Adirondack Park.

The blog was created by Chestertown writer and historian John Warren. But Saranac Lake residents Mary Thill and Mark Wilson (a regular commenter on this blog) joined The Almanack team earlier this year to offer a different perspective.

Wilson authored the quirky and much followed Adirondack Bracket, a local spoof of college basketball's March Madness. Stewart's defeated the Northville/Placid Trail in a controversial final.

The Almanack has indicated that they will be adding "contributors in departments more closely focused on outdoor sports, environmental policy, history and culture, entertainment and events, and politics in the Adirondack region."

The Almanack definitely worth following if you don't already.

New blog

Good new blog to check out about New York state politics:

Planet Albany.