More and more, top talk radio show hosts are getting their material from us bloggers. In my opinion, this is a very good thing. Because we are on the forefront of the fight against the encroaching Islamification of Western Civilization.
However, it is painful to watch your hard work be outright stolen and not credited.
I, personally, made a decision on 9/11 that it did not matter to me that I be credited for my work. All that matters is that I get the word out. Sometimes, I still find myself angry. I am, for instance, angry that no one is acknowledging the fact that I brought the Polonium/Litvinenko story to light. Even my best friends in the blogosphere are ignoring me, and even being snarky with me over the story, but I understand, and keep reminding myself that the important thing is the big picture; getting the word out.
Anyway, here is an article from Debbie Schlussel, about how Sean Hannity has been taking her exclusive scoops and structuring his radio and TV shows around them without giving her any credit at all. I feel for her. Schlussel has to make her living from her writing (I make my living by other means). When she is not given credit, it makes it harder for her to earn her daily bread.
Check this out:
Two of the classiest people I know in commentary-dom and on the blogosphere, La Shawn Barber--blogger & speaker extraordinaire--and Robert Spencer--New York Times best-selling author, Islam expert, and Jihad Watch director and blogger, Robert Spencer, have given credit where credit is due regarding my original work ( here and here)--repeatedly ripped off by Sean Hannity --on the Dems' fave Imam, Husham Al-Husainy.
La Shawn--whose blog, La Shawn Barber's Corner is among the most prominent conservative sites in the blogosphere--agrees with me that Sean Hannity clearly plagiarized my work. An excerpt:
For the past couple of days, Sean Hannity has been talking about this issue [Imam Al-Husainy] on "Hannity & Colmes." Debbie has accused Hannity of citing her work without giving her credit. Since some of her information is exclusive, it's obvious where he's getting his information. . . .
If he's "reporting" on al-Husainy and lifting material from Debbie's exclusives without citing her work, it's plagiarism. . . .
I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to do all the leg work for a story, only to have someone, especially a fellow conservative, steal from you. . . .
Shame on you, Sean. But it's not too late to make amends.
Read the whole thing. (I read La Shawn frequently. You should, too.)
Robert Spencer--all of whose books on Islam I always highly recommend--hosts today's Hot Air/Jihad Watch video (which he hosts once a week). I also recommend Jihad Watch, which I read regularly. Robert's expertise and mastery of Islam is so good that many CAIR officials are afraid to debate him.
In today's video, Robert has a lot of very good points about Imam Al-Husainy, and you will learn something new from him. I certainly did and always do. Robert also cites my work on Imam Al-Husainy, and that is very much appreciated. I only expected a link from Robert, but he prominently cited me and showed a cut of my site in the video, which is very well done.
Watch the whole video. It's only a few minutes and well worth it.
***
Regarding the Hannity rip-off, I'm getting tons of mail on this, and the mail (with the exception of one letter) has been 100% anti-Hannity. And these are Sean's listeners and viewers. Big mistake and no legitimate reason to rip me off, Sean.
A sample is Reader Chris, who writes:
Deb,
I live up in Saratoga Springs, and I listen to talk radio often. I've listened to Sean Hannity's show many times, and I've heard him discuss the topics that he clipped from your work. It is a low point in radio commentary when the host has to take refuge in denying stealing someone else's work so that they can appear to be significant in public.
Moreover, it appears that Sean Hannity's corner he has sacrificed personal integrity for ratings. Self-importance has certainly trumped integrity, and vanity is more important than the bibliography.
Mirror-mirror-on-the-wall, Sean's the smallest of them all.
I, personally, made a decision on 9/11 that it did not matter to me that I be credited for my work. All that matters is that I get the word out.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't blogging then, but once I started, I made that same decision. However, I feel that one's work should be credited as matter of integrity.
I didn't discover blogging until 2004, but I did make the decision on 9/11 that I was going to use my best talent, which I believe to be writing, to defend America, and Western Civilization.
ReplyDeleteI also don't feel compelled to try to force another to credit, but then I am not running around spending time and life effort digging into stories as Debbie clearly is.
ReplyDeleteNever the less, I can intuit that if somebody stole something, I'd be offended, and disappointed, as I am for and about Sean Hannity.
AOW says,
ReplyDelete"However, I feel that one's work should be credited as matter of integrity."
Absolutely; this is especially the case if the work in any way contributes to one's ability to earn a living, as a reputation as an insightful writer would. If Debbie is willing to give freely of her research in the name of fighting the Islamic aggressors, what harm can it do Hannity to credit her for it? If nothing else, it would increse our mutual support of each other and our sense of community with respect to fighting the threat.
I sure hope there's some logical explanation.
Hannity bothers me in several ways. He asks his guest to answer a question yes or no--which a guest may not want to answer yes or no. I find it something akin to bullying. In public political conversation, I think it is always best to ask opponents the questions that lead them to talk about their irrationalities--except if they are so mentally vacant one can't get to that point (Bush and Obama?). Hannity also whines too much: "I would never invited to a Hollywood party", and so forth. In the end, I find myself liking Colmes much better--even after episodes when I agree with Hannity.
ReplyDeleteI don't much like Hannity either.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, I think it is fair to ask a guy if he is a supporter of Hamas or Hizbollah, don't you?
I mean, I don't understand a person having a nuanced answer to that question. It's like having a nuanced answer about whether you are a supporter of the Nazis.
Don't you agree, Demos?