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It's not even print syndication. It's a press release. In the Moncrieff case, he says "pawn off the quote as if they just did a bunch of investigative journali

It's not even print syndication. It's a press release. In the Moncrieff case, he says "pawn off the quote as if they just did a bunch of investigative journalistic legwork and tracked it down but really all they did was poach it from another organization". Nope. A press release is where an organisation puts out a statement _specifically_ for the purposes of reuse. There is no sleight-of-hand or "poaching" involved. If I voluntarily give you £1, you haven't "poached" it from me. In this case, the press release - as Erik Hoel could have found out, as I did, with 10 seconds' googling - is at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2022/jul/no-evidence-depression-caused-low-serotonin-levels-finds-comprehensive-review https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2022/jul/no-evidence-depression-c... . It has the full Moncrieff quote, verbatim. UCL will have sent it to the Guardian with the expectation that the quote is used.

jrochkind1 4y ago
I think the practice of writing an article-by-press release is worth commenting on. It essentially helps launder marketing into consensus "journalistic" truth. It is, of course, done because it is far cheaper and easier for a journalist to repackage a press release than to actually do reporting. You are right that it is widespread (which op certainly recognizes, that's their point), and it's not new (not sure if OP recognizes) -- Chomsky and Herman's Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (1988) originally brought this practice (and others) to my attention, along with in general thinking about what mainstream journalism actually does and how and why. (Because it is in large part, as a standard practice, driven by economics, it's possible it has accelrated as newsrooms and reporting budgets have been, literally, decimated. But that's just a guess). It is still definitely worth commenting on. That what standard journalism actually does, for the most part, even well-respected outlets, is not quite the model most people have of it, is quite a bit lazier and less reliable than the outlets would like you understand them as.
Nomentatus 4y ago
Note the copyright implications, too - these outlets claim copyright on every word, including the copypasta, and never distinguish what they actually do own copyright too; and don't.

jrochkind1 4y ago

I think the practice of writing an article-by-press release is worth commenting on. It essentially helps launder marketing into consensus "journalistic" truth. It is, of course, done because it is far cheaper and easier for a journalist to repackage a press release than to actually do reporting. You are right that it is widespread (which op certainly recognizes, that's their point), and it's not new (not sure if OP recognizes) -- Chomsky and Herman's Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (1988) originally brought this practice (and others) to my attention, along with in general thinking about what mainstream journalism actually does and how and why. (Because it is in large part, as a standard practice, driven by economics, it's possible it has accelrated as newsrooms and reporting budgets have been, literally, decimated. But that's just a guess). It is still definitely worth commenting on. That what standard journalism actually does, for the most part, even well-respected outlets, is not quite the model most people have of it, is quite a bit lazier and less reliable than the outlets would like you understand them as.

Nomentatus 4y ago

Note the copyright implications, too - these outlets claim copyright on every word, including the copypasta, and never distinguish what they actually do own copyright too; and don't.