Reaction to my Cheat Sheet" post from last week"

I've received a substantial amount of email and even a few phone calls following this column I wrote last week where I discussed how this blog is used as a cheat sheet" by several in the Portland media. Media members SBR listeners and blog readers alike have sent me their opinions. Many of you feel that we are in fact in the midst of a time where media content is being highjacked like never before. Several other media people that wrote me (national and local media members) said they share my frustrations because they too have had their information used without getting the proper credit for unearthing that information. Some good debate about this topic here on BlazersEdge. A few points I'd like to make about the story I broke regarding Phil and Penny Knight's $100M donation to the University of Oregon. First there were some people who wrote me telling me I shouldn't have received credit from other media outlets for the story I broke early last Monday morning because the University of Oregon had a press conference that afternoon to confirm my story. They said all I did was put the story out there a few hours before it was given to anyone. Here's the problem with that theory. The ONLY reason there was a press conference to announce the Knight's donation last Monday was BECAUSE of the fact that I broke this story and went on the air on KXL with it. I spoke with numerous people close to the U of O and Nike this week and all of them told me that there would not have been a press conference had I not let the cat out of the bag. As a matter of fact there's a good chance the Knight's donation wouldn't have been made public for several more weeks had I not filled you all in on the details of the Saturday night donor meeting at Nike led by Phil Knight where he announced his joint donation with his wife Penny. So there's a big difference between scooping an announcement that is scheduled to be made at a press conference and being THE reason for people scrambling to put a press conference together in response to news you've broken. The U of O had to come out with their side of the story after I went public with the Knight's donation. The press conference was a reaction to my story. Some of you may find me to be arrogant or egotistical. You are entitled to your opinions and I have thick skin. The point I was trying to make last week is that radio hosts TV reporters print media and bloggers are stealing each other's information like never before and claiming it as their own. Its wrong and its unethical. Reporters like me work hard to unearth stories and report them accurately..........and first. That's how I establish credibility and that's how I attract more readers and listeners to the Sports Business Radio brand. Any other media outlets who say that they don't care about being first with a story are lying. There has never been more competition to be first with a story than there is right now. The immediacy of the internet and the growing number of bloggers has raised the stakes. Some bloggers have better sources than the mainstream media. Reporters and editors are hired and fired every day in this country because they have great sources to break stories or because they got beat to a big story by the competition. Everything written in this blog and heard on Sports Business Radio is copyrighted. Thus if another media outlet uses exclusive information that I have gathered they are required to note where the information came from. That's why when you read a story from the Associated Press you'll note the copyright mention at the bottom of every story. They are protecting their exclusive information. Listen I'm ready to move on with life but still continue the dialogue surrounding this issue of media plegiarism. Its a topic that is likely to stir great debate and its also a practice that is likely to continue to be employed by media outlets who want to report a story first but don't have the means to do so.....or by reporters who are just simply too lazy to give credit where credit is due. My goal is to continue to always be accurate with the news I share with you and to be first with that news as often as I can. If I need to continue to remind bigger media outlets about the ethical practice of giving credit where credit is due I will raise my voice when need be. One more thing you should know about me. I own and oversee my business brands - Sports Business Radio and BBPR which is my PR firm that I launched in 1998. Trust me when I tell you that this is more about principle and less about ego. I've worked for myself for the past 10 years and if I needed to have someone stroke my ego every day I'd work for a company/media outlet where I had a boss who could tell me what a great job I'm doing. When you work for yourself you plug away every day with an inner confidence that you have to have to succeed. When you are running your own show if you are fortunate enough to receive praise for your work you receive it from your clients your peers or your audience. Or your brands continue to grow and expand their reach. So no this isn't about ego to me because I would have taken a totally different route in life if I needed to have my ego stroked. OK.....off my soap box and on to bigger and better things!       "

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