Cincinnati Enquirer's Politics Extra: Stealing Stories From Bloggers?

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- So desperate for news items, the Cincinnati Enquirer appears to have resorted to outright theft on Politics Extra, its political blog. The paper's crack political reporting team apparently didn't know about this news until several long hours after it appeared in The Daily Bellwether, which is checked daily by the newspaper. The Bellwether's piece about U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt being invited to speak at the values voters conference was on the Internet since early Tuesday, nearly a half day before the Enquirer got around to reporting anything about it. The newspaper no doubt read The Bellwether, but it didn't give credit, or couldn't admit it was scooped again.

Glad to see Washington reporter Malia Rulon found the news worthy of reporting. But, geez, guys, don't you have any ethics?

[UPDATE: 5:55 pm 10/10/07 -- Malia Rulon e-mailed The Bellwether today saying she learned of the Schmidt appearance at the Values Voters confab from another source. Here's what she says: "I was forwarded you blog today. I had not seen your earlier post about Rep. Schmidt speaking aat the FRC meeting, so apologies if you think I copied you without credit. As you've seen in the past, I do credit when I get a tip from a blog. In this case, my colleague who covers Fred Thompson pointed Schmidt's speaking slot out to me since he's covering the event." I asked Malia if I could update with what she said, and she responded fine.]

Cincinnati Enquirer: So Slow On Delivering News It Regurgitated A Jean Schmidt PR Release

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The Cincinnati Enquirer's political blog is just now reporting that OH-02 U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt has penned a good-bye column for departing White House Budget Director Rob Portman. The Daily Bellwether had the same story six days ago. The Bellwether even linked to another OH-02 newspaper that printed Schmidt's column -- which really proves the Cincy metro daily can be asleep at the wheel when it comes to political news.

Here's what is now appearing on the Gannett-owned daily's blog. Notice that there is no analysis, comment, or anything other than a straight disgorgement of the Republican congresswoman's remarks. Notice that the Bellwether reported that Schmidt -- who succeeded Portman to the House seat -- said she cannot fill Portman's shoes. Notice that the Enquirer somehow failed to point that out.

Journalism is reporting news. Flackery is hustling publicity for a person, place, or company. Today the Enquirer appears to have confused its role as a journalistic enterprise with that of a press agent. That shouldn't be an easy mistake to make.