Eat The Press

Big Week For Radar: Hot Scoops, A Correction, And Getting Ripped Off By The Times

Posted Thursday September 7, 2006 at 02:11 PM

Radar's been back for approximately 29 hours and so far they've been rocking fairly hard, with scoops like Anderson Cooper, Superspy getting picked up 'round the blogosphere (and even by Anderson himself!), its movie-mogul poll getting passed around the industry (so sez a pal in the biz, and the Hollywood Reporter blog), and John Cook's weird feature story on NBC's predator-catching Xavier Von Erck making news itself today in the New York Daily News.

And then there's that James Frey story.

Astute readers will recall seeing Radar's juicy scoop bright and early Tuesday morning (5:59 am), reporting that fabricating fabulator James Frey and Random House were on the verge of settling their lawsuit with readers over his fictionalized non-fiction book A Million Little Pieces.

Fast forward to today, New York Times: "James Frey And His Publisher Settle Suit Over Lies," by Motoko Rich. Guess how many times the Times mentioned Radar, or scoopy reporter Jeff Bercovici? If you guessed zero, you'd be right!

We've said it before and we'll say it again: The MSM does not get a free pass to plunder the blogosphere for whatever news nuggets it deems worthy of scooping up and passing off as its own. It's not transparent, it's not ethical, and it's cheap and tawdry theft. The NYT has plenty of resources on its own; it can afford to give a shout-out to the finder.

Now, it's entirely possible that the NYT came to this story on its own, but far less possible considering that Radar's re-emergence was well-marked in media circles and the James Frey story was namechecked in Radar-rebirth items in Gawker, and us here at ETP . So, scoop awareness was very likely high.

And, as it happens, it was clearly high indeed: According to a source at Radar, a correction is forthcoming (though has not yet appeared online). Considering that the item has been picked up by the AP, however, it would have been nice had Radar actually gotten the credit for the story they broke. Well, we know. And, the Times knows, and maybe they'll think twice next time.

Finally, one more bump in the road this week: It turns out that Mary Mapes will not be working with Dan Rather at HDNEt after all; following a rather embarrassing gotcha by the NYO's Media Mob, Radar has since clarified the item. Though Mapes initially denied speaking with a Radar representative, she subsequently remembered that, oh yeah, she did talk to someone, off the record. There is a National Guard story joke in here somewhere, and I know you've already found it.

So! Big week for Radar. Wonder what they've got going on for tomorrow?