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Someone help me with this puzzle? Maybe DavidMurray who I have learned a lot from in this forum?
AMCostaRica.com keep on telling us that they don’t copy the news from La Nacion but again today I see plenty of the same news and even the same photo.
1. The have a story about ‘Drug police move to take bite out of Pavos Diablo gang’ with the exact same photograph that appears in the ‘Siete mujeres detenidos por dirgir banda narco’ article in La Nacion on page 12A this morning – A coincidence maybe?
Should they not give credit to the photographer that took that photograph or did AmCostaRica.com have their photographer there at the exact same second and took the exact same photograph?
2. Their article about the ‘Rat population growing in the dry countryside’ looks remarkable similar to the article in La Nacion on page 18A about ‘Ratas dañan cultivos de arroz, caña y maíz’. Another coincidence?
So since AmCostaRica says that they are not copying the news form la Nacion, that must mean that La Nacion is copying news items from AmCostaRica.com?
Sorry to burst your bubble, Fiona, but I’m going to let you down on this one. If my reputation wasn’t shot before, it certainly must be now.
I have noticed this practically on a daily basis since I moved here a few years ago too…
My advice is to read La Nacion newspaper in Spanish, use your dictionary and or an online translator and you will learn so much more Spanish
Three examples from todays La Nacion:
1. In today’s AMCostaRica.com GAS STATION SUSPECTED IN AQUIFER CONTAMINATION. The nation’s environmental tribunal Monday froze commercial activity at the Estación de Servicio Lago Arenal after it received reports of fuel spills contaminating the aquifer that serves the community of Tilarán. http://www.amcostarica.com/morenews3.htm
In Today’s La Nacion: Derrame de diésel pone en riesgo acuífero de Tilarán. http://www.nacion.com/2011-11-01/ElPais/derrame-de-diesel-pone-en-riesgo-acuifero-de-tilaran.aspx
2. In today’s AMCostaRica.com: CENTRAL GOVERNMENT WILL PAY CAJA BILL. The Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social celebrated it’s 70 years Monday at the Teatro Nacional, where President Laura Chinchilla confirmed that the government was going to give more aid in order to help the struggling health and social services agency. http://www.amcostarica.com/morenews.htm
In Today’s La Nacion: Gobierno promete cancelar en 18 meses su deuda con la CCSS http://www.nacion.com/2011-11-01/ElPais/gobierno-promete-cancelar-en-18-meses-su-deuda-con-la-ccss.aspx
3. In today’s AMCostaRica.com SECURITY FIRM SEARCHED. Judicial agents and Fuerza Pública officers staged three raids Monday in an investigation of a security firm and the purchase of 35 handguns. http://www.amcostarica.com/morenews3.htm
In Today’s La Nacion: Jefe de firma de seguridad preso por inscripción ilegal de armas. http://www.nacion.com/2011-11-01/Portada/Jefe-de-firma-de-seguridad-preso-por-inscripcion-ilegal-de-armas.aspx
From the tone of the previous postings, I take it that someone may feel that one of the online papers in question is plagiarizing the work of the other. That’s the sense I get. Maybe I’m wrong; it’s happened.
If I’m correct, however, I just wonder if anyone has made the effort to determine if possibly these two publishers either have some sort of joint operating agreement under which they are permitted to post the same material or if they are each obtaining news stories from the same non-exclusive source.
While we’d expect them all to be in English, of course, it would not come as a complete surprise that virtually the same new story, sourced from Reuters, AP, or another news service, appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times all on the same day. If such an arrangement exists between A.M. Costa Rica and La Nacion, what’s the issue?
By the way, Fiona, just where did you read A.M. Costa Rica’s assertion that they don’t obtain material from La Nacion? I’ve been reading AMC for six years and have never seen that assertion, although in fairness I’ve never looked for it. I just did a quick scan of A.M. Costa Rica’s “About Us” page and saw nothing that suggested that they don’t use material also published by others.
“Some readers think that A.M. Costa Rica editors simply copy news stories from the Spanish press and translate them into English. Nothing could be further from the truth. Each local story in A.M. Costa Rica has been gathered and written by staffers here. ”
In fairness to publishers and “scribblers” like me, that ‘About us’ section also says…
“Sometimes the news stories are similar because La Nación and El Diario Extra rub shoulders with A.M. Costa Rica staffers at news events. And editors here receive the same press releases.
Taking material from the Spanish press is not defensible ethically. The same is true of republishing material that has been posted elsewhere. Sometimes readers send in a favorite story. But this newspaper cannot publish it without permission. To do so would be stealing.
Writing news from scratch can be dangerous. The newspaper already has survived one criminal libel accusation based on a news story.”
I have also been through the Costa Rica court system having been frivolously charged with slander by a Canadian hooligan – the case was eventually dropped but it still costs serious money to “defend” even when it’s total BS.
Scott
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