Content Aggregation – The Channel [V] way
Case in point, their blogging site smartly named My India Report (not gonna comment on that annoying pop-up). I noticed a comment on Vikas’s ‘Sizzling Economy…Moral Pygmy’ post hinting that it was posted on [V]‘s blog. I hopped over to check it out and was surprised to see the entire post cut-pasted albeit with a link to the original blog. The post was posted under ‘guest post’ so naturally I asked Vikas if they had his permission which he confirmed they didn’t. I checked out other ‘guest posts’ and saw posts by Nitin, Krish Ashok, Amrita, among others cut-pasted entirely. I left a comment pointing out their folly and reminded them of fair use practices in the blogosphere i.e. excerpts of 100 words or less with a link to the original blog in order to read the full post. E.g. as Boing Boing, Life Hacker, or even we at DesiPundit would do. Heck, Krish Ashok’s Facebook Mahabharat image was copied entirely making a visit to his blog entirely redundant.
I guess my comment and other blogger contacts to higher-ups at Channel[V] had its effect and I saw a ‘Thank You’ post today. But the blog ‘admin’ still didn’t get it and gave the impression that the bloggers whose posts were ripped ought to feel privileged to be feature on their site. Bloggers who may think that way must remember that duplicate content is frowned up by Google and your blog may be marked as spam for ripping off content instead of vice versa. Or worse, such site may slap on some Adsense ad blocks and start monetizing off your content. Also, I’m told the ‘reporters’ and ‘bloggers’ for My India Report are being paid; no problem; everyone’s time has value but in the same spirit, shouldn’t the ‘guest bloggers’ be paid as well.
Anyway, I reiterated my ‘fair use’ and ‘blogging etiquette’ points again. This time, it seemed to have hit the mark and all posts were subsequently converted to excerpts. But if you are one of those bloggers who fiercely protects their content and expect proper credit, I suggest you keep an eye on My India Report. But for now, they seemed to have made a honest mistake and have rectified it.
I hope those in charge of My India Report have paid attention to this faux pas and take measures to avoid it in the future. The site seems like a worthwhile experiment and Blog-to-TV crossover may help in popularizing blogging. But for that to happen, Channel [V] definitely needs blogging advice. Especially since reputations on the blogosphere do not take time to shatter which we all know can be quite hard to recover from. Plagiarism doesn’t receive similar denouncement as it does elsewhere and hence practices which otherwise are considered blatant plagiarism may even be encouraged in India. I remember a colleague doing his ‘research’ on the Internet and citing Altavista (Google wasn’t big back then) as a reference. I guess research for him meant search again and again. I hope Channel [V] doesn’t encourage such behavior from its ‘bloggers’
“Content Aggregation – The Channel [V] way” [Short URL: http://www.ipatrix.com/?p=2362] was published Friday, December 7th, 2007 at 10:25 am by Patrix, filed under Media, Weblogs, and tagged as blogging, blogs, Business, Media. Both comments and linkbacks are closed.
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I noticed that they also removed “ha” from the end of my title to make it North Indian friendly (Mahabharat). I thought about insisting that they preserve the original title, but realized that that would be rather silly.
But you are right about mainstream media not really understanding social media. After all, a few years back, nobody was paying any attention to bloggers. And if one looks back at general corporate history – its always been this cycle repeated ad infinitum. (think rock music, PCs and blogging)
1. New phenomenon (with niche audience)
2. Mainstream ignores phenomenon, even derides it frequently
3. Mainstream starts to feel the pinch
4. Initiates accelerated attempt to catch up
5. Realizes that the game is slightly different
6. Tries to change the rules.
7. Co-opts niche culture and passes it off as mainstream (like Nike’s co-opting of Urban black culture)
So yeah, sorry about the long comment, but mainstream media has just currently languishing between step 5 and 6 (“paid” bloggers et al)
2 years ago replyKrish Ashok, Ha! Didn’t realize I did that. I usually try to drop the anglicized ‘a’ from the end of Ramayan and Mahabharat or for that matter, even Ram & Ravan. After all, I’m not Patrixa.
But you are right about old media not getting it. Self preservation and controlling the monopoly definitely makes handling rapid changes in pop culture difficult but those who refuse to change will perish.
2 years ago replyGood catch, dude. Kudos! It’s one thing if they copy pasted from a 2 line post. But copy pasting an entire post with paragraphs is definitely plagiarism(sic??). Of course, once you pointed it out, they backed off. They did not want to tangle with the almighty creator of DP :-)
2 years ago replySantosh, I’m sure they aren’t aware of DesiPundit let alone not wanting to ‘tangle with the almighty creator’. I think Dina talking to the Veep that made them backtrack.
2 years ago replyAnd I thought some of our well known bloggers that DP has linked so many times were also part of Channel V My report. I wonder how they did not notice this was plagiarism and raise the flag immediately.
2 years ago replySupremus, I can’t speak for them but I asked them before writing this post. They are no longer with ‘My India Report’ and have no clue of this ‘guest post’ behavior.
2 years ago reply@Patrix: In spite of Channel V’s guest post faux pas, I think it’s a good sign that brands in India are beginning to find ways to engage with blogs. As bloggers, we need to be more patient with the mistakes brands make as they experiment with (to them) the new and niche medium of blogs. I’m both a blogger and a brand manager and, trust me, it’s not easy to allocate time and resources for a project like V’s My India Report. Ok, Channel V made a mistake, but they are listening and talking to bloggers and trying to find the right way to engage with blogging. I think Channel V needs to be applauded – not crucified – for what they are trying to do with My India Report.
2 years ago replyBtw,
2 years ago replyThe almighty creator of DP comment was more in a friendly ribbing way not meant to be snarky. Just clarifying because its hard to say how something comes out over the Internet :-)
Gaurav, I understand Channel [V] trying to get into the blogging groove and would excuse them if they messed up on something specifically related to blogging etiquette but I simply cannot understand how they thought it wise to cut-paste posts. Even in the non-blogging world, this is inexcusable and in the academic world, this end up with a permanent black mark. But as you say, I hope they pay better attention and improve on their mistakes.
2 years ago replyPatrix – I certainly understand your concern about plagiarism – after all, bloggers don’t have anything else except their content and if mainstream media somehow appropriates that, then we are left with nothing.
However, in some cases, this phenomenon might be beneficial for the blogger because this way his or her content gets read by more people and eventually, could lead to more visitors on his or her blog.
2 years ago replyVikas, the benefits you mention can still happen with a short excerpt and a link to the original blog. If I continue to copy-paste your entire posts on my blog, no one is going to visit your blog.
2 years ago replyFair point Patrix.
BTW, congratulations on your upcoming wedding!
2 years ago replySupremus, as Patrix has already replied to you, Sakshi & I are no longer with the My India Report (though they still have our old content, hence also our profiles up).
We were very careful to point out these issues when we were with the team so it’s very disheartening for us to see things like these happening now.
My advice to brands who want to get into serious blogging, is to get professional consultation – and listen to it! It’s an easy enough solution and not even expensive by their standards.
2 years ago reply