Thursday, January 09, 2014

Scott Bateman: “USA Today swiped my weather map graphic,” then apologized


Scott Bateman's graphic (left) from his Tumblr account as he posted it on Friday; the USA Today swipe, with cleaned up language, from Tuesday.

USA Today copied a graphic from Scott Bateman's Tumblr site and published it on Tuesday. This was done without Scott's permission or knowledge.

When Mr. Bateman, along with a lot of other people, saw the similarity, the newspaper admitted what they are calling "our oversight."

The Jim Romensko blog has more details, including this quote from the caught-red-handed USA Today:
Mr. Bateman’s map was an inspiration for an effort that fell short of our newsroom publishing standards. As soon as we realized our oversight, we took immediate action to correct our mistake. We apologized to Mr. Bateman and are addressing the situation both internally and externally to give the artist the credit he deserves and to set the record straight for our readers. We do not take these incidents lightly.

This is deplorable. Apologies … but where is the money? Will the creator be paid? No mention of that.

Hat tip to Matt Wuerker

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