CNN VS. TPM. This is really something. First Josh Marshall catches CNN swiping the photo TPM Muckraker posted of Brian Doyle's mugshot. Seems CNN accidentally left the "TPM" logo in the picture.
Then, when TPM called out CNN on it, CNN posted a new version of the picture on their home-page-- apparently scrubbed clean of the logo. But there was just one problem: CNN forgot to clean up the photo on the story's site. TPM called CNN out on that, too.
Well now, guess what? CNN has gone back in again and cleaned up the version on the story's site, too. You gotta ask -- wouldn't it have been easier for CNN to just credit the source, rather than keep scrubbing away any and all evidence of where the picture came from? I mean, wouldn't it have taken less effort?
This type of thing seems niggling, but it's a big deal for bloggers who are trying to inject reporting into the opinion-dominated medium of blogging. Getting credited by the big news orgs for breaking a story gives bloggers credibility as reporters -- which leads sources to see the blogger in question as a credible destination for inside info. That, in turn, leads to more stories, and to more credibility, and so on. So, for the blogger, it's a big deal. And for the big news organizations? Giving a lowly blog credit shouldn't be a big deal at all. But it often is. Go figure.
--Greg Sargent
