Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include comments from Post Public Affairs Editor Chuck Murphy.

STATE BILL COLORADO

Today’s Denver Post seems to be sending mixed messages about what media it’s attributing stories to.

Attribution became an issue earlier this week when a local blogger claimed a Denver Post political reporter, Lynn Bartels, took a story idea without giving proper credit. Bartels later said that attribution was unnecessary because she was unaware of the earlier report.

Today, The Post’s news section and specifically reporter Karen Crummy credits KMGH-TV Channel 7 with breaking a story about Colorado gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper’s IRS penalty on a conservation easement in Park County. But The Post’s business section and columnist Penny Parker don’t credit local blogger John Rebchook with breaking the story about the local businessman taking a loss on former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan’s home sale.

State Bill Colorado contacted Rebchook by e-mail. He acknowledged that he broke two stories involving the Shananan home sale. Asked whether the business story should have cited his work, Rebchook said, “I think so.” Rebchook indicated he recently gave credit to the same Post reporter for breaking an unrelated story.

Murphy said Thursday that The Post’s story should have cited Rebchook’s earlier reporting.

“In the case of the Shanahan house, I spoke with business editor Steve McMillan and, in fact, InsideRealEstateNews.com was the original source for that and should have been credited in the column for breaking that story first,” he said. “It was an oversight that will be fixed online.”

However, Murphy said it was unnecessary for Bartels to cite the blogger’s story, because she didn’t rely on it.

“When pursuing a story or tip for publication, our focus is on verifying the accuracy of the information and getting it published, not on checking every television station, other newspapers or blogs to see if they had it first,” Murphy explained in an e-mail that’s published in full below. “The question for us is whether we relied on another outlet to gain the original knowledge of the news that we then went out and reported out on our own. … If so, our intent is to give credit and I have tried to make reporters and editors aware of that intent.”

“Basically, we want to treat other media the way we would like to be treated by giving — and getting — credit where credit is due.”

The Associated Press recently introduced an attribution policy requiring its reporters to give story credit to bloggers. Denver media critic Jason Salzman on Wednesday discussed the earlier attribution story at his Big Media Blog. Salzman’s story includes quotes from State Bill’s editor, Don Knox.

Murphy’s note on the topic is published here:

Don,

I’m glad you wrote, I was looking for your address the other day after you published someone’s accusation that Lynn Bartels stole their story. She didn’t steal anyone’s story.

Our intent is to give credit when another media outlet made us aware of an enterprise story we followed — and the same idea applies to blogs and more traditional media. There have been times recently when we published an item on our political blog, The Spot, or a story at Denverpost.com or in the paper based solely on our reporting, only to learn after our publication that the same story or anecdote had been previously published somewhere else without our knowledge. When pursuing a story or tip for publication, our focus is on verifying the accuracy of the information and getting it published, not on checking every television station, other newspapers or blogs to see if they had it first. The question for us is whether we relied on another outlet to gain the original knowledge of the news that we then went out and reported out on our own, as was the case with the story about John Hickenlooper’s land. If so, our intent is to give credit and I have tried to make reporters and editors aware of that intent.

Basically, we want to treat other media the way we would like to be treated by giving — and getting — credit where credit is due.

In the case of the Shanahan house, I spoke with business editor Steve McMillan and, in fact, InsideRealEstateNews.com was the original source for that and should have been credited in the column for breaking that story first. It was an oversight that will be fixed online.

Regards,

Chuck Murphy
Public Affairs Editor