The Death of Journalism (Gawker Edition)

WaPo reporter Ian Shapira wrote an opinion piece about how Gawker borrowed heavily from his article about a business coach who teaches business leaders how to deal with Millennials in the workplace (she's running a racket, in my opinion, but that's another issue). He said he felt triumphant at first and then his editor told him they ripped off his story. He spent a considerable amount of time and effort reporting the story and a Gawker writer spent an hour or so cutting-and-pasting and re-wording it — generating more than 9,500 page views for Gawker.

I started thinking about all the labor that went into producing my 1,500-word article. The story wasn't Pulitzer material; it was just a reported look at one person capitalizing on angst in the workplace. With all the pontificating about the future of newspapers both in the media and in Capitol Hill hearings, I began wondering if most readers know exactly what is required to assemble a feature story for a publication such as The Post. Journalism at a major newspaper is different from what's usually required in the wild and riffy world of the Internet. And that wild world is killing real reporting -- the kind of work practiced not just by newspapers but by nonprofits, some blogs and other news outlets.

Here's Shapira's original story and here's Gawker's post about it. Anyways, something to chew on.