Journalist's misuse of boards.ie, blogs etc

monument

I'm a freelance journalist... As some of you will know I've advocated here on boards.ie for general rights of the media and in particular that journalists should be allowed to use this site to contact people etc.

But in that process I've become more aware what looks to be a notable amount of journalists questionably using content from boards.ie, blogs and other Irish websites.

So, I'm looking to catalogue these practices, and any help anybody here can give me would be welcomed.

Just to be clear, I'm really searching for examples where journalists have copied from Irish sites on a wholesale bases as passed it off as their own work, but lesser examples are also welcomed. Even where journalists have quoted boards without naming the site.

Even if there's a substantial issue here - which I think there is - there's only a (very) limited space in the media that I would be able to get an article on this published, and depending on the outcome of research etc the article may or may not be limited in what it can say about X journalist or Y newspaper.

If you can help, contact me via PM or by emailing cian.ginty@gamestoaster.com.

Rb

Think it was the Herald who used Boards quotes with regards to the "Copper Face Jacks" dad who was found, only named the source as a "large Irish forum" iirc. Either that or it was the times, the threads in AH if you want to confirm it anyway.

Terry

If journalists want better interaction from members here, it might be an idea for them to become active participants in any of the 1,000 or so forums here.

They can still post their requests here and link to their threads in their sig line.

Sparks

Dunno about misuse in the sense of plagurism, but I definitely count it as misuse when a boards thread is cited in a BCC complaint defence by RTE as evidence of astroturf campaigning :mad:

Sparks

Oh, and I'd also call it misuse if there's a BCC complaint or two gone in and a user who shows up on the relevant thread to do little but denegrate everyone who complains, later turns out to have very suspicious sources for his/her information that would convince me they were in fact employed by the defendant in the BCC complaint...

monument

Thanks for everybody who has replied so-far.

There appears to be more widespread problems with the interaction between the Irish media and internet communities, bloggers, etc than I had first thought. From the minor, to things like the above BCC complaint and what appears to be a high level of plagiarism.

miju

While not boards related I know of countless incidents of whole posts being used as articles on thepropertypin.com (alot of the posts there can be quite lengthy and detailed)