And yes, I stole most of my headline from this thread started by Odum. Give it a quick re-read for re-minder.

But why bring it up again? Why attract attention to the claims that bloggers are not quite stealing stories or otherwise not engaging in valid sharing of life’s information?

Read on, my friend, and be prepared for an eye opening experience.

Below are excerpts from almost twin stories printed in the twin newspapers Times Argus and Rutland Herald. Both stories are titled Despite recession, Vermont tourism up (Rutland Herald’s version here, and Times Argus’ version here), and both are reprints of an Associated Press article.

The even shorter version of a short story: Tourism to Vermont up but less per person being spent.

The fun part is here … from the Times Argus version:

But even though more people are coming, it looks like they’re spending less. WCAX reports tax receipts are off, just not as bad as some expected. For example, in New England tourism numbers dropped 17 percent. In Vermont it’s closer to 3 percent.

So the Argus is cutting and pasting an AP story that relies on WCAX for the numbers … no problem … once CAX reports it, the info becomes public domain and the AP is paid to be copied from.

Here’s the Rutland Herald version (same paragraph … sorta’, oh, and this version gives each sentence its own paragraph):

But even though more people are coming, it looks like they’re spending less.

Tax receipts are off, just not as bad as some expected.

For example, in New England tourism numbers dropped 17 percent. In Vermont it’s closer to 3 percent.

Notice something missing? Like the attribution to WCAX for the numbers?

And we, the bloggers, are bad people because we often take what others write and then interpret or expand or condense it … with proper attribution?

Damn us anyway for being better than the “news” people.