K athy Kass — who is an attorney by trade — has pledged in this article that effective immediately at Will Run For Miles, she will credit the originators of airfare deals and not what she calls “feed the copycats.”
I applaud her pledge — but is that going far enough?
Crediting Sources Should Apply as Often as Possible
I have some unwritten rules pertaining to writing articles at The Gate. One rule is that I rarely post articles pertaining to airfare deals, with the main reason being that I do not want to be responsible for “killing” a deal in case it is an airfare or hotel room rate which was posted in error. Yes, it probably leaves many “views” of The Gate “on the table” — but it is still a conundrum for me: do I not write about deals so as not to assist in them expiring sooner than later; or do I write about them so that you would know about them and give you a chance to get in on them? This is not a rhetorical question; so please feel free to opine in the Comments section below.
The second rule is to attempt to credit the source as accurately as possible. I searched for local sources when reporting on the recent massacre in Orlando; and for this article, I used the Orlando Sentinel as a source. If I find out about a source through another means of media, I will credit both the source and where I first found out about the story — such as in this article as to whether or not you should feel guilty snagging a deal to Orlando.
Sometimes I am not always successful at finding the actual source of information; so I will use respected news outlets such as the Associated Press or Reuters; but in as many articles as possible, I also prefer to credit the writers by name.
As Kathy Kass might have found out — more often than not — finding the sources for information does not consume much more time; and the information is more credible when an actual source is linked.
The third rule is that I prefer to use my own images, graphics and composite art with article which I write as often as possible.
I do not like when colleagues of mine do not properly credit the sources of their information.
Summary
I am not going to comment pertaining to the allegations of where certain weblogs get their information pertaining to deals and whether or not they are “copycats”; but I do believe that all forms of media should be as accurate as possible when it comes to dispensing information — and practice proper accreditation — as often as possible. The reader — you — should have the option as to whether you want to check the original source of the information being presented to you.
I am not perfect by any means; but I strive anyway, just the same.
In the meantime — as you might have noticed — I am starting to work on posting more trip reports, which is often the best form of original information; and I am preparing to take you from Slovenia to Botswana to who knows where after that.
Slovenia and Botswana: now those are two countries which I never thought would be included in the same thought…
Photographs and composite image ©2016 by Brian Cohen.
