Media Bistro’s Fishbowl DC editor Betsy Rothstein slammed the Washington Post for not crediting other media outlets in two stories this past weekend – the Keith Olbermann suspension and TBD’s Jim Brady’s job change. Politico broke the Olbermann story, and Rothstein’s Fishbowl DC broke the Brady story, Rothstein noted.
She contacted the Post’s Paul Farhi with her concerns. Farhi penned the Washington Post’s story on Brady, and reportedly told Rothstein that he had credited Fishbowl DC, but “the credit, however, was removed at the desk; my editor wasn’t sure that you HAD broken the news, and I couldn’t really say I knew for sure.”
Rothstein reported that he apologized and said a tight deadline prevented the Post from verifying if Fishbowl DC should be credited.
Further, Farhi said he thinks “it’s a courtesy to credit the original news source of a story, but I don’t think it’s a requirement or even important.”
See Farhi’s complete response and Rothstein’s take on the issue here.