A text from Dan Norris, David Miliband’s Parliamentary Private Secretary, intended for sympathetic MPs, was intercepted, sadly, by the notorious blogger Guido Fawkes. “If you’re at conference pls make a point of speaking to lobby correspondents who are trying to distort party unity, to help them u’stand David’s speech was a unifying one which is why it went down so well in the hall. Thanks.” No advice on countering the supposed “Heseltine moment” gaffe.
A few miles from Wapping over on the Farringdon Road the same day the Guardian’s Hugh Muir had also lifted the same blog post for his lead story, no credit. Tut, tut. Muir is following no doubt in the tradition of Marina Hyde, who during the 2004 U.S. Presidential election took to lifting stories daily from Wonkette with no attribution. Easier than working ain’t it?
Sherwin let himself down badly yesterday (0/10, stay behind after deadline) by lifting Wednesday’s story about Cameron’s Carlton Political Dinner jokes without attribution this time, though he may have copied it from Paul Waugh who also ran the story under his byline in the Standard after it appeared here.
They may all say they got it from their own sources – they usually do. Funny how it is after Guido publishes and never contains more information than was given on the blog.
Look chaps, if you are going to lift, at least link. If you don’t want to admit to your editors that you are taking the money under false pretences for cutting ‘n pasting from blogs, rather than actually cultivating sources, send a case of Margaux. This blog is not a syndication service for lazy hacks.