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Topic: The age old stolen story idea question
| Author | Message |
| laureneditor | Posted – 8/2/2007 7:57:17 PM | show profile As a freelance writer and on-staff editor, I?ve tended to be a bit cynical of claims of stolen story ideas, for all the obvious reasons: the sheer number of similar story ideas editors receive, timing issues, so on and so forth. But a younger writer I?ve been offering advice has come to me with a case that looks pretty solid. She pitched a strong story, original idea to a magazine three months ago, never heard back, and three months later, lo and behold, the magazine has a story that is, well, unmistakably hers, but not written by her. I work with this magazine regularly, and have found them a DREAM to work with (they?re my favourite client), so I have no intention of going in to bat for her. Given my experiences with them, I?m surprised that they?d do such a thing! Rather, I have two questions: 1. She?s asked me what she should do. How should I advise her? Offer my commiserations, agree that it looks dodgy, and suggest she leaves it at that lest she burn bridges? Tell her to email them? If so, what? 2. She?s sent me a copy of the article she submitted to the mag in question (on spec), and while the idea is strong, my inner editor thinks the writing could do with some tightening and refinement. Should I be honest and offer this feedback (knowing how many writers can?t take criticism), or should I just leave it be? Thanks! |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 8/2/2007 8:02:31 PM | show profile I am not followng this. So you submitted an unsolicited spec article, never heard a response, and three months after she mailed the spec article to them a similar article appeared in the magazine. Is that it? |
| laureneditor | Posted – 8/2/2007 8:04:41 PM | show profile No, SHE submitted an unsolicited spec article three months ago, and this month a story with the same title and format has appeared in the magazine. |
| laureneditor | Posted – 8/2/2007 8:05:34 PM | show profile Which fits with the timeframes they work to, in my experience working with them. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 8/2/2007 8:47:13 PM | show profile This is a tough one. If I were you, I wouldn't offer a critique of the merits of her article unless she specifically asked me for such a critique. I see nothing wrong with emailing the original editor, sending him a copy of the piece she sent three months ago and inquiring about the similar piece that appeared in the magazine. I wouldn't accuse him of anything. Anything could happen, but the two most likely are that he won't respond or he will say he doesn't remember receiving such a piece from her and it was merely a coincidence. The main lesson the young writer should learn is that he or she needs to follow up on his submissions on a timely basis. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 8/2/2007 9:14:38 PM | show profile Following up would have resulted in nothing. her calls and queries would have been ignored. I would take it to the editor in charge of publishing the story and leave it at that. Ask the editor to contact the writer with some explanation or apology--just because the submitted article wasn't up to snuff doesn't mean any editor has the right to paraphrase/plegariaze it as an alternative to working with a new writer. Advise the writer to contact the Editor in Chief if she feels very strongly about this issue--and does not wish to work with the magazine again (after of course she has not heard from the original editor within a week and a call or email has not been returned). If she wishes to work with the magazine again, you will have to advise her to suck it up and, I guess, just keep "sending ideas" until the editors deem her worthy to work with. That, or advise her to get her clips elsewhere, and advise her that even if she makes a stink about this--even if she has NO intention of working for this magazine again, that editor will eventually turn up somewhere else, and could drag her name through the mud if she makes these accusations. And since this happens often, most editors will not be that "offended" by this behavior--although I know that bosses (EICs) do not like to hear that it goes on, or that there is such a clear paper trail. You can blow it off and look out for yourself, or blow the whistle. Me, I tend to be a whistleblower, and could not stand by and watch this go on. I would question my professional relationship with this magazine and I would say so. But we all gotta do what we gotta do. |
| mailbag | Posted – 8/3/2007 7:55:27 AM | show profile | email poster nature of the business Lauren I don't believe there is anything to do outside of naming the publication. I've started a thread on this topic and named a pub (although it is indeed a premium pub that I do continue to respect,) so have many others without naming the pub. The stories share similar time lines, similar outcomes, and no resolution. Perhaps we just accept 10 or 20 percent of our pitches across the board are going to be a loss as part of normal bidding in biz. |
| chucho | Posted – 8/3/2007 10:48:52 AM | show profile I had a Mass Comm. law professor that reiterated the point many, many times throughout the course of the semester that ideas are not intellectual property: Words on paper are. Concepts, themes, topics, even access to sources are not things that freelancers have claim to. This is a provision of the marketplace of ideas: the same thing that allows freelancers to browse through magazines and newspapers and read other people's articles to come up with their own "original" ideas I'm not defending the editor who might have taken the idea. I'm just pointing out there's nothing you can do about it unless the editor cribbed actual portions of text from the submission and used them in the published story. In which case the freelancer should be raising a shit-storm. |
| kpolitzer | Posted – 8/3/2007 11:25:23 AM | show profile | email poster re: stolen stories Not to digress, but I'm so glad this issue came up, as it is something I'm dealing with right now. I have a food-related story with a very unusual premise, which a friend of mine (with permission) posted on his popular food blogger site. Within a few weeks, I opened up a weekly magazine, to find the exact same premise and a similar photo. It seemed like too much of a coincidence, so I E-mailed the writer in a friendly way. I didn't hear back, and after further research I found that she was an editor. Do I have any recourse, or should I just let it go? |
| JimmyG | Posted – 8/3/2007 1:01:23 PM | show profile Again, ideas aren't copywriteable. If you see a lifestyle topic in the NYT, WSJ or USA Today, within a day or two you will see this issue covered on one or more of the morning talk shows. In some ways specialty blogs are better sources of advance information and editorial ideas than are PR people these days, so I am not surprised to see something from a blog expanded upon elsewhere, so I wouldn't raise a stink, only perhaps suggest to the editor that he/she could use you next time for similar articles. This is why so many freelancers work hard to get beyond having to pitch stories blindly to editors. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 8/3/2007 4:31:45 PM | show profile Number one--Just because it's legal doesn't make it ethical, and most editors KNOWthis--which is why they deny doing it--or, lately, as the chorus of complaints rise (thanks to boards like these), do it often. Number Two: If this was a submitted story, and the structure and phrases are close, it's plagarism. And that IS illegal, I believe. Number Three: Ideas, once expressed, developed, and put ON paper, are the property of the writer--and you CAN'T HAVE THEM. if you STEAL them, copy them, paraphrase them and the writer can prove--through emails and similarities etc, that you did, you could be paying that writer a lot of money. Number Four: Eventually, if editors keep this practice up, all it takes is one landmark case to make this illegal. We are just one big case away from getting some solid criteria writers can point to and count on in the legal system to STOP this practice. It's obvious here that the young writer wrote a astory that was handed over to another writer who paraphrased it (and wasn't even good enough or smart enough to do it well). It's obvious this editor thinks she can get away with it. I say to the poster who KNOWS this proabably happened--step up. Say something about it. And, can I just take a wild guess? Was this by chance a women's lifestyle magazine??? |
| arewrites | Posted – 8/5/2007 12:04:07 PM | show profile To the previous poster - you're on target when you start, but somewhere in the middle of your post you lost the plot. Ideas cannot be copyrighted. News is news. Information is information. where do you get *your story ideas? Aren't most of them based on articles you've read? What do you use for research? And how do you prove an idea was stolen? Are you sure all your ideas are unique, that no one anywhere on earth has the same ideas at the same time? I'm a bit confused about the initial post, though. Did the writer submit something on spec based on a contract or an agreement that she would do the piece on spec? Or did she simply write an article and submit it, which is a kind of amateurish thing to do (unless it was an essay)? You say there was a three-month gap. Was the research the same in the published piece? Were the same sources used? If not, it would seem to me that the published piece was assigned, researched, and written before the spec piece was submitted; otherwise, given the time frame for publication, someone would have had to read her spec piece, locate other sources, conduct the interviews, write the story, and get have it ready really, really fast. Unlikely, imo. However, as far as advice goes? I'd say go with your first suggestion. Maybe it looks dodgy, but it may or may not be, and as often as people scream and cry about this kind of thing, it's rarely as dodgy as it appears to be. |
| seeattleme | Posted – 8/6/2007 12:13:22 AM | show profile arewrites, why is what happened here so clear to me and so "unclear" to you? Maybe be cause I've seen it happen as an EA for almost two hears OVER AND OVER! People! WAKE THE FUCK UP! This happens all the time!!! It's legal but unethical. It's only a matter of time tbefore it's illegal. Ideas ARE copyrightable! Ask the guy who won a million from the Spopranos creator. If you have a paper ttrail and a good lawyer and can prove it, yes, someone may very well have to pay. Do your research before you spout off. and yes, my husband is an attorney with a Park Ave intellectual property law firm, and agrees with this: it's tough, but it can be done. Thisis a clear case of the bullshit that happens in publishing. Anyone who plays dumb is 1. an idiot or 2. stealing ideas. Period. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 8/6/2007 1:24:39 AM | show profile Well, I for one would love to see someone take this on and win! Seriously, if it could be done, that would be great. I know it's been done with screenplays and such, but I'm unaware of any examples within the journalism world. It would be a sight to see, definitely. |
| arewrites | Posted – 8/6/2007 6:18:34 AM | show profile >>Do your research before you spout off. and yes, my husbis an attorney with a Park Ave intellectual property law firm, and agrees with this<< uh, huh |
| getmeoutofhere | Posted – 8/7/2007 9:38:15 AM | show profile again, wow. |
