Ponsi’s Editor
The other day Register “reporter” Lou Ponsi put forth a story he read about on our blog first and presented it as his own to his handful of unsuspecting readers.
Apparently the idea that you can pilfer somebody else’s story and claim it as your own finds favor with Lou Ponsi’s “supervisor,” too. His name is Jim Radcliffe and below is his response to a complaint lodged by one of our readers.
See, according to Radcliffe if you “independently” verify someone else’s work then you’re in the clear to pretend that the story is yours. He notes that The Register stories get “picked up” all the time and that it is a compliment. No, Jim, even if true it’s swinish behavior, and just because you claim you don’t mind getting ripped off doesn’t men anybody else has to like having it happen to them.
Here is Radcliffe’s comical defense:
On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 9:56 AM, Jim Radcliffe (jradcliffe@ocregister.com) wrote:
I am Lou Ponsi’s editor. … He is a very good reporter and handled this story like a pro, under my supervision. … We did see it first on that blog. And I applaud that blog for learning about it first.
But, as is common among the better news organizations, he independently verified everything we used in our story, making numerous phone calls. We usually don’t credit the first news organization that has the story; the reader typically doesn’t care and just wants to know about the story itself.
We, at the Register, are constantly the first to break stories that other media then pick it up: TV and radio stations, the L.A. Times, The Associated Press, etc. We don’t mind at all, as it is actually a compliment. We do mind if the news organization does no original reporting to make the story “theirs” and doesn’t credit us. … If there is no original reporting, then the initial source should indeed be credited.
Lou didn’t steal anything. He confirmed the arrest was true and found out new things about the case.
I have worked for various news organizations, and this is the industry standard. If you have any additional concerns, please feel free to call me at 714-704-3761. … Again, I applaud that blog for keeping an eye on Fullerton, so long as the coverage is fair. … The more journalists keeping an eye on a community, the better for everyone. … Jim.
Jim Radcliffe
Team Leader
The Orange County Register
714-704-3761
Ponsi found out “new things” about the case? No, he didn’t. He just found out that the officer in question had made some DUI arrests – a fact utterly irrelevant to the story and included by the “pro” no doubt to be “fair.” And of course he claims he made an unreturned phone call to somebody.
Please note too Radcliffe’s applause for FFFF (not in print, of course) – so long as the coverage is fair. Could it be that Radcliffe really believes that if a blog doesn’t meet his subjective definition of fairness he is not obligated to recognize its work product?
Finally, I have no idea what gives Mr. Radcliffe the idea that he is employed by one of “the better news organizations” but it certainly can’t be any discernible level of ethics.
Better new organization? The Register has been a joke for years and the local coverage is beyond pathetic.
I notice they are still running real estate advertisements dressed up like news stories. Absolutely embarrassing.
Tony you are not a reporter. You got the information for this story from Whittaker. You don’t see Whittaker wanting credit for the story. Think of yourself more like an informant.
OOooh busted. But how do you know this is true?
It’s true and Bruce will continue with this shady way of dealing with city employees.
No, you cops make sure the City Council is the VERY LAST to know anything. Good job!
I know I’m gonna be lambasted on here for this, but here I go anyway…..
I’m really surprised this doesn’t happen more often to you. Really, I am. You have some really great entries on here that are begging for news stories. And what would you do if someone from Channel 2 or the LA Times picked up this article too? Are you going to slam them too? You’ll be too busy slamming people to ever get anything done!
Consider it a compliment and move on already. Seriously. This is doing you no good. The Register doesn’t care. Lou Ponsi doesn’t care. The only people who care are you guys. What point are you trying to prove? That a small, crappy-assed paper that is going to go under stole your story? BIG, FRIGGIN WHOOP!
Move on already!
All they want is some f–ng credit. “As first reported in the Friends For Fullerton’s Future” blog. Simple honesty and professionalism. Most papers and blogs WOULD do that. And shitty as the Register is, it still helps a blog’s prestige and readership to be mentioned like that.
I know, but it’s not going to happen was my point.
I know, but it SHOULD, and it’s right for us to complain and demand it. Is my point.
What a bunch of fucking whiners FFFF. You should be WFFF. Whiners For Fullertons Future.
Wha, wha, I didn’t get my credit in the paper.
Go change your tampon.
GED.
I missed this issue (on your blog), and as a frustrated irate former subscriber to The Register, I certainly missed it there.
Plagiarism is the kind of theft which the protected-affirmed “girls” (i.e. the Feminists and the “males”) of the main stream media commit.
To pretend that theft is something else, or “the way it’s done” is the kind of corruption which failed institutions spew out as “education” in their coordinated Leftist propaganda campaign.
The main stream media is entirely Communist which is the philosophy of the Democrat Party (and quisling RINOs) and the government Unions which corrupt and destroy our government schools and turn Police and Firemen into politicized thugs (and now thieves).
I wonder if Kim is a Union school teacher, all ready to “move on” away from the truth?
Nope, sorry Rain. I am not a union school teacher. Thanks for the laugh though!
So we finally know what Radcliffe does over there. You never see his byline on anything except his juvenile column on traffic once a week. As to Ponsi, I don’t remember seeing his byline on anything.
I think OCR would have given your blog credit if the fucking cops, firemen and teachers made less money and there were less crooked sidewalks in Fullerton. But because Tony employs Old Green Teeth Travis, we have global warming which is causing our national debt to rise. And that affects the sand in Glamis because it makes it too sandy which causes dune buggies to just fall over for no apparent reason. A good thing the sand can’t make a hit and run report because the report would be false and the suspect could probably blame it on the lack of medical marijuanas dispensaries and pho restaurants that don’t have old men beating the shit out of it’s customers.
Tony, now that I’ve steered you in the right direction, why don’t you do some real investigative reporting. It’s all very simple.
I would love to see what reporters like Scott Moxley or Anthony Pignataro have to say about the Register “constantly” being the first to break news stories. Um, Dave Garofalo (HB Mayor) corruption case? Or this little thing about MIKE CARONA? Tip of the iceberg.
The Register is a joke and has been for as long as almost anyone can remember, just ask the handful of real reporters who have done real reporting.
Chris cplease post some more photos of your lovely boy shirtless playing with guns
The truth is that the Register was forced to have their reporters write and post their stories on the Internet as we were beating them to timely stories. Another problem is that during slow news weeks they simply have nothing to write about.
Part of their challenge is that due to staff reductions and turnover they simply can’t cover every event such as the appearance of Assemblyman Chris Norby at Hardin Honda yesterday afternoon.
While its an honor to have your material plagiarized, credit was earned and should appear on the post or story.
As to the dumb comment that Tony is not a reporter and took info from Bruce Whitaker let’s take this a step further to make a point.
Using that argument, I guess Bernstein and Woodward were not reporters when they met with deep throat and took down Richard Nixon.
Brooce Whitakr is Deep Throte?? LOL. Yeah, a deep enuf throte to swollow certan dogs whole. LOL.
Cletus, you are really going to have to drop your attempt to libel an upstanding public official.
Bruce Whitaker did not eat your dog. You did. It was the winter your still got all busted up by the revenoors, the crick done froze over, and yer supply of Oxycontin wore out.
You did it. Own it. Live with it.
This is just typical Register behavior. They’ve been ripping off the Weekly for years. Meantime on real stories they are scooped every time.
Lou Ponsi should stick to submitting puff pieces on local dog grooming businesses and suchlike.
I wouldn’t mind their “borrowing” once in a while if they didn’t overtly lie about other things. I once commented on an election, and not only did they misquote me, they added an entire paragraph to my “quote.”
Newspapers are good for some things, just not truth.
It’s not about plagiarism, and it’s not about whining, it’s just about professional courtesy. I don’t know what “industry standard” Jim is talking about but in my world of journalism it takes two seconds and one line of type to accomplish this little courtesy in a story. And if he really believes “The more journalists keeping an eye on a community, the better for everyone” than why not credit the story tip-off to FFFF and let readers check the site out for themselves? I guess OCR is too concerned with their bounce rate to try and be a little more professional.
Mr. Bruce you add an intellectual flare to this blog that is usually missing. I like your style; you have exposed some very serious charges about the hosts of this blog I hope that you follow up with the FBI. I’m sure that they would be very interested in your allegations of various violations of the Brown Act.
You guys are hilarious. You can’t stand the OCR or any other media, but then you whine when they don’t acknowledge you. FFFF is not a legitimate news site, pure and simple. We all know that. This is a place a few people come to to post their thoughts and ideas, but it’s certainly not journalism. So, just be happy screaming at each other anonymously, Its what you do best! Quit looking for validation from the people you hate.
You miss the point, completely, of course.
I am not a journalist and neither is anybody here. However, Lou Ponsi DOES pretend to be one. His source for the story was FFFF and nobody else. He should have attributed the source and then gone on his merry way of making unanswered phone calls and including FPD press releases.
The point is why should he attribute anything to anyone. Did Travis give Whitaker credit………….no
Since Whitaker is no doubt left in the dark by FPD about the law-breaking of its gun-totin’ personnel this is irrelevant.
POST REMOVE: for reasons of censorship
I thought you don’t censor anything. You write and have blogger friends that are crude and vile. What did Mr. Bruce write that is any worse than you guys. Censorship is no good. Transparency is better. Let him write and have it posted
admin, why not dedicate a post to all the FPD troll comments? Just curious how many are from the same person. I’m guessing they (all the obscene, nasty, filthy comments) are all from the same person….that Goodwrench feller.
There is no greater offense than irrelevancy. It wastes everybody’s time. Especially when loaded up with 7th grade potty-mouth talk. The cop troll has nothing intelligent to add. I recommend he be banned altogether. Then he can say whatever he likes on the city’s police web page he edits.
I agree with Curious and Be Confused No More!
Why did you remove Mr. Bruce’s post?…..Very one sided I must say. You better hope his claims are baseless.
I remember when Tony was just a cub reporter for Blue Boy Magazine. He had a reputation for doing things that no other reporter would ever dream of doing. You go girl…more hard hitting reporting is what we want from you..Brick veneer reports are what we have grown to expect…More;;;;More …More…
Hey Travis is this true?
Precept is currently managing and advising over $1.2 billion of insurance premiums and retirement assets. Our service team currently partners with over 250 clients ranging from 50 to 7,000 employees with headquarters in over 20 states and employees located in 42 states and around the world. We serve organizations in a wide variety of industries and employment structures including multinational organizations and governmental agencies.
Just wondering, what Government agencies does Precept do business with I’m sure you give them your all….right?
It seems like the FPOA troll is really outdoing himself displaying the nature of his true character.
I would like to know what governmental agencies Precept serves. I’m sure they would like to know who is looking out after them. Better yet Mr. Olson should take a closer look at his star IT guy. Seems odd to me that the exact organizations and people that Travis HATES are paying his salaries through contracts.
It’s called contracting out. The private sector will deliver service better and cheaper than overpaid, defined benefit public employees. Only a union stooge would be against that.
How much money did the FPOA spend trying to get a Garden Grove businessman elected to the Fullerton city council whom was convicted for food poisoning?
Fuck Ponsi and the OCR. When are you going to post the next installment of the 7 Walls of Local Government. Now that’s some interesting and important shit right there.
Why do you care? You won’t be able to understand it.
It would be nice if Mr. Kiger spent a fraction of his work day on company business instead of editing posts on Tony Bushala’s behalf. I do not agree with the hate speech frequently used by our employee. Precept does not condone the tactics of FFFF nor the nature of this site. We do of course allow our employees to engage in free speech on their own time.
I wonder how much time Andy Goodwrench spends on public time blogging from a tax-payer owned computer.
Any guess?
Pork product.
You guys just don’t understand how hard reporters and police officers have it.
“Thanks for risking your lives so that my family and I can enjoy OURS!”
– Joel Swintowski
Thank you for the kind words Commissioner Kiger.
OLD rat teeth
Oh snap, you guys got Swintowskied! Times three!
http://sierramadretattler.blogspot.com/2010/11/crime-stats-other-concerns-of-local.html
Just so we are clear, donations to the FPOA are NOT tax deductible.
“Thanks for risking your lives so that my family and I can enjoy OURS!”
– Joel Swintowski
Joel, yes you are very clear, “This gift may not be considered tax-deductible as a charitable contribution for Federal Income Tax purposes; however, you should consult your tax professional about its use as an alternate category of deduction.”
Whoa! Give to the a political organization so they can give it to a charity, do charity with other people’s money, and get the credit?
And all I got was this stupid badge decal for my car. Well, maybe it’ll get me out of one of those DUI arrests.
I wonder just how much was collected (muscled) from the downtown bar owners?
Commissioner Kiger,
What a great way to spend the 4th but writing under a false name and spewing out more hateful message. You must be a great Commissioner for Whitaker to appoint you when there is serious questions about your ability to handle this role. You are not a true represntative of the people of Fullerton but only your select few. I feel sorry for the citizens you serve but more than that I feel sorry for your family. Instead of hanging out with them enjoying the 4th you’re blogging with your distinctive hateful flavor under false names. Is this how you will raise your daughter, to lie about who you are and to say things that are half truths? That will be an interesting household. What you are doing is more destructive than helpful to the community. People have memories and when you are a loved one falls on their face expect it to be exposed with a jaded slant.
Enjoy life
I feel sorry for the people of Fullerton who pay $90,000 a year for police uniform wearing GED pickpockets and credit card thieves.
I have tried to post something 3 times and it has been deleted because I was critical of Commissioner KIger who happens to run this blog. I did not use profanity or lie (that’s a lie, this person has used many alias’s and has written some of the worst and raunchiest words too, admin) . It was my opinion and he refuses to allow it to post. Not a true blog open to others opinion I guess.
Your whole squad is on moderation due to the continuous stream of libelous remarks that have been showing up since this blog started exposing bad cops.
Your comments will eventually make it through unless they are defamatory. We’d all hate for you to get sued, right?
Don’t those cops have to take some sort of ethics oath? I’d like to know if the GED trolls are violating that oath by their defamatory comments on this blog. Maybe they should be fired. Whatdya say, Andy?
Once I wrote a story on my blog that nobody read.
OK – actually that happens a lot.