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Thursday, July 5, 2007

Nitpicking: Sloppy Citations from the Professional Media

O.K., KSFY and KELO, which one of you can't write your citations right? The Sioux Falls TV stations run nearly identical stories on the accident at the Flandreau fireworks show last night. KSFY's version (posted 06:55 today):
Two people were reportedly hurt last night at Flandreau when a fireworks show went awry.
Officials say a shell bounced along the ground and went into the crowd.
The rest of the show -- which was sponsored by the royal river casino -- was canceled.
A spectator who was about 40 yards away from the mishap says he saw at least one person loaded into an ambulance.
Another spectator says she saw a young woman with a leg injury.
KELO's version (posted 07:37 this morning) moves the sentence about the sponsor to the end and properly capitalizes Royal River Casino. The text is otherwise identical. So whose story is it, kids?
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6 comments:

  1. Tell Todd7/05/2007 9:33 AM

    My guess is that this was a wire story that was somewhat re-written by both KSFY and KELO.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jackrabit17/05/2007 12:50 PM

    More than likely a re-write of a story that was on the Associated Press wire.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Steve7/05/2007 10:08 PM

    I can almost guarantee it's AP wire copy that both stations used as a starting point for their stories. I would have thought they'd be attributed as such, but some in broadcast journalism are unaccustomed to doing so.

    ReplyDelete
  4. caheidelberger7/06/2007 5:17 AM

    I assume AP expects it stories to be attributed properly. It sounds like a case of interns being at work after the holiday before the big kids come back from Okoboji.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jackrabit17/06/2007 8:19 AM

    Unfortunately, it's all too common a practice, especially with youngsters that are simply "minding the store."

    Basically, since both stations are members of the AP, they don't need to credit the source on air. HOWEVER, if they post the story on their website word-for-word, then it has to have an AP Dateline PLUS credit the AP.

    ReplyDelete
  6. caheidelberger7/06/2007 8:30 PM

    Thanks, Jackrabit1! I wondered what the rules were on that. Does AP spell out how much rewriting a member has to do in order to be excused from citing AP? The KELO and KSFY stories had identical wording; only one sentence appeared in different places.

    ReplyDelete

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