There’s an adage that is held as a basic truth among veteran reporters: If you have not been sued or at least threatened with a lawsuit, you haven’t done your job. Such is the nature of the profession.
And when someone does threaten to sue a reporter, that writer can usually be certain he has struck a sensitive nerve.
Retiring Congressman Rodney Alexander’s protests notwithstanding, there are quite a few bloggers who do a pretty decent job of reporting. Some, in fact, even have proven award-winning experience with the mainstream new media as “legitimate” reporters—as recognized by Alexander’s narrow definition.
Thus, it was more than a little irritating to watch Baton Rouge television station WBRZ boast of its “investigation” of non-governmental organization (NGO) state grants on Wednesday (Aug. 14), trumpeting the fact that two of the NGOs are closely tied to State Sen. Yvonne Dorsey Colomb.
The absurdity of the TV station’s “investigative” story lies not in any inaccuracies contained in the story but in the fact that C.B. Forgotston jumped on that story more than a week ago, laying out the details of those connections and how a spokesman for Dorsey had threatened to sue him for libel or some such offense. http://forgotston.com/page/2/; http://forgotston.com/page/4/; http://forgotston.com/page/5/
Forgotston is an attorney from nearby Hammond and formerly worked for the Louisiana Legislature, so when he writes something about state government, it’s a pretty sure bet the man is writing as the voice of authority and deep background knowledge. Said another way: He knows what he’s talking about.
So, Forgotston breaks the story, gets threatened with a lawsuit, calls out the would-be litigant and then, when the dust settles, WBRZ goes public with its “investigative” piece.
But did WBRZ, in its blockbuster “investigative” report give even a nod of acknowledgement to Forgotston for laying the story in the TV reporter’s lap?
Hell, no.
Instead, the reporter and the station took full credit for the “investigation.” Tacky, if not downright unethical.
But then one must consider that it is, after all, television news which seems to thrive on the latest drive-by shooting (complete with the victim’s family holding the deceased’s photo up for the TV cameras). Local TV news, it seems, exists for the sole purpose of keeping the cheesy car dealer and cheesier lawyer commercials from bumping together. And speaking of cheesier lawyer commercials, it always occurs to me that when a lawyer has to go begging for clients on local television newscasts, he must be desperate for clients.
That last remark will probably get me sued by a cheesy lawyer desperate for clients.
Sorry to go off like that, but it really irritates me to see someone who poses as a professional reporter capitalize on another’s research. When someone such as Bob Mann, Elliott Stonecipher, the Crazy Crawfish, or C.B. Forgotston scores with a good investigative piece, I’ve been known to do a follow up but have always given credit to those who broke the story.
Do your story. The facts needed to be told, we don’t deny that. The more publicity the misuse of public funds receives, the better for all concerned. But don’t pass someone else’s work off as your own. At least acknowledge the efforts of those who laid the groundwork for you.
Even in the world of blogging, it’s called professional courtesy. This link, provided by Bob Mann, takes a while to load, so be patient.
Louisiana Voice 
Media plagerism much???
Just a tad.
thank you Mr. Aswell for your acknowledgement. My only error was sitting on this info for two weeks. When we got the dollar amount that the city of Baton Rouge through the legislature funneled to the Colomb foundation in Layfayette we went with the story…. we are being told over and over that we ruffled feathers in baton rouge… that’s our job..to connect the dots… the story had no inaccuracies in it.. we cant blog….someone would own the station…. I respect your work…and we have talked before…. Your complaint should be… why are the other news organizations in baton rouge staying away from the story.
i apologize for the typos… my keyboard is on its last legs.
lee polowczuk
wbrz
I never said the WBRZ story contained inaccuracies. I said the problem with the story was “not that it contained inaccuracies…”
And the fact remains that C.B. Forgotston got there first and deserved to be so acknowledged—publicly—by the reporter who was runner-up.
You may well have sat on the story for two weeks. Who knows? If so, what is wrong with opening with “we’d like to make you aware of a story first reported on by noted political blogger C.B. Forgotston”… If the boss won’t let you say names try something like ” as recently reported by local bloggers.” When my wife and I saw your story we were like “hell, these guys are late.” I am glad, and more than a little surprised, that you ran the story though. WAFB followed suit yesterday with an interview with Kennedy but didn’t have the nuts to name the Colombs. Guess they didn’t want to piss off Cleo. Maybe you in local media will stop the fluff news and report the real news that Tom Aswell, C.B., Bob Mann, and others generate. These are the things Louisianians need to know. But either report it in a timely manner or give credit where credit is due. Real journalists used to ruffle feathers EVERY day.
Tom, you can’t expect those guys to do any real investigating can you? No less a person than John Camp has decried the absence of true investigative reporting for years. I don’t usually watch Channel 2 so I missed their coverage, but I did see coverage on Channel 9 that focused on John Kennedy’s pursuit of reimbursements from NGOs clearly not in compliance with the law. Though I took heart in the fact the issue was getting prime news time coverage, these kind of reports are mixed blessings. You want the public to become outraged about how these things can be funded to the detriment of desperately needed mainstream state programs. But, unfortunately, the public all too often generalizes from these kind of reports that the state has plenty of money to throw around and doesn’t really have a fiscal problem. I guess the state will have to literally hit the fiscal wall for most people to be convinced of the recurring structural budget imbalance and, even then, many will continue to believe the problem is fiction until we stop funding every questionable NGO, every seemingly wasteful contract, every conference and convention, etc. The people responsible for this mess should be held accountable and the public should realize bringing home the bacon takes food from the tables of the truly needy and not fawn over their legislators for getting funding for things that are of limited importance or that should be funded from local sources.
Doesn’t read like a rant; it seems an accurate statement of fact.
Rant on, gangnam style! Tom, thanks for acknowledging those bloggers, or “investigative reporters” who researched their work, leaving no paper trail unturned to report the “breaking news” to the public who pays, pays and pays their legislatures through our tax dollars, receiving little to nothing in return, except redistribution, empty coffers. They have to be accountable. These are economically hard times for many, and to see government waste or non-collection of funds due the state is unacceptable. Common folk have to pay when “payment due” arrives, why not these NGO’s? Those reporters are the newbies trying to follow in your footprints in print. A task, apologies, unequaled by many. Thank you for keeping us informed, and encouraging others.
At minimum, the blogger should be given credit for his or her contribution to the story. When they are in the form of an essay or term paper, taking credit for someone else’s work is called plagarism.
And yes, attack WBRZ for the car and lawyer ads. They even sneak into primetime on the weekends and the screaming makes me NOT want a car from any “LaBlanc” dealership as well as staying away from 444-4444 and 888-8888 if I need a lawyer. It seems that the programming has become a vehicle for the commercials instead of vice versa, especially when you add WBRZ’s self aggrandizing commercials about how great they are and the community projects they do—over and over and over again. DeeDee Slaughter commercials got run into the ground so bad they sound racist. An they tout a special expose’ for a week before they show it and then it turns out to be 2 minutes long! Plus the 5:00 newscast is just full of fluff. I wonder if the FCC could do anything about them.
By the way, isn’t there a law now against turning up the volume on the commercials?
Try watching the noon newscast. If you like being inundated with lawyer ads and celebrity news updates, it’s the place to be. It’s one of the upsides of being retired. I mean, who doesn’t want to know about the latest admission to/escape from rehab by some spoiled actress/actor?
(In case Sheldon is reading this, yes, it’s sarcasm.)
At least retirement does give us some perks!!! Tom your reporting has been a wonderful blog and I wish the media would give you a commentary reporting column to spread the truth. They would probably screen and monitor everything you say and make it just the opposite of the situation. Truth is important, so keep on keeping on!!
[…] C. B. for very hard work on the subject at issue, Tom wrote about it. I ask you to take the time to read Tom’s post. I am honored to be named in […]
Oh come on Lee!
At least Chris goes out and digs his own dirt up for his stories.