Gray News should use bylines

“Nathan Tsukroff, a professional photographer”
On Aug 20 2004, “staff” wrote:

Nathan Tsukroff, a professional photographer, offered to create, at no cost to the Town, an official photograph of the last two Gray Town Councils.
So just before the Town Council meeting on August 2, Tsukroff set up his backdrop, arranged his lighting, posed the Council and got ready to snap the photograph.
Just before he could do so, an amateur with an inexpensive digital camera snapped the picture and published it as the "official" portrait.
The attempt to appropriate Tsukroff's professional work appears unethical, if not plagiarism.

Problem 1: Who wrote this? It is obviously not a press release, it was created and written by someone within the newspaper. That someone should have a byline. Bob Steele, Senior Faculty & Ethics Group Leader at the Poynter Institute said of Bylines: “A newspaper has an obligation to be honest with its readers, to tell where a story originated and who is responsible. Readers deserve to know this information….The news story byline personalizes the report so readers know someone is responsible for what's reported and written. It allows readers to hold someone accountable for the story."

Problem 2: The staffer wrote, “Just before he could do so, an amateur with an inexpensive digital camera…” Why isn’t the person named? Ray Clark had said that he would never use anonymous sources, but he allows anonymous subjects in news articles. This is hypocritical. The paper is hiding behind the cloak of anonymity by using the word “staff” instead of a byline, and it is hiding behind the cloak of anonymity by failing to name the person who allegedly did the bad act. What the report amounts to is a series of insinuations rather than a factually based news report that informs.

Problem 2a: ‘an inexpensive digital camera.’ It is important not to state a fact unless you know the certainty of it. How does Ray Clark know the expense or lack of expense of the camera? Unless the fact has a point in the story and further, is a confirmed fact, its use in the story just becomes another vehicle to denigrate. Do not include extraneous facts in an article. If facts are included, confirm them.

Problem 3: This report uses the words “appears unethical”. It is either unethical or it is not. If so, then the writer should indicate why by using attributed sources or documents. If it is not unethical, it is a moot point and its inclusion in the article serves no purpose other than to cast aspersions. Newspapers should inform, not allege or insinuate.

Problem 4: The report is based on a non-issue. The photograph was taken at Stimson Hall during a publicly noticed meeting. Any other person there may have had a camera and could take a photo. Citizens are allowed to take photos, take notes, to record or to video meetings. This report actually harms the democratic process because it insinuates that only certain people may photograph or record what happens at public meetings.

Problem 5: In the very same issue, the Gray News received a photo of a young student that was taken by her mother. The Gray News published that photo with the credit “Photo staff.” The photo was not taken ‘by staff’ and that work was not theirs to claim. The Gray News is hypocritical.

Busted!