Date: March 15, 2002
the
inquirer has reported on Tom's Hardware Guide's total dis-association
of our very own Van Smith who use to work for The Pabster.
This
article is one of many that were authored by Van but now go under the pseudo
name of - guess who - the 'THG Reporting Team'. The credit for this work which
was written in February 2000 is now given to the 'current' editorial team. Van
is not credited with anything.
This one, and make sure you read the last paragraph, is credited to an
unknown 'Udo Schroeder', doesn't tie in too well with Van's comments about being
an American Indian!
It's a sad day for IT journalism when author's credits can now be removed,
buried, and replaced by a 'deliberate' click of a mouse, and the credit that
should rightly go to the author is dishonestly passed on to someone else. It's
bad enough that stolen stories get republished as original work, but this is far
far worse. It's so crass and so unbelievably unprofessional. It also reeks of
sour grapes. If there were ten commandments for journalists, this would be near
the top of what not to do. Could you ever imagine the articles that the
inquirer's Mike Magee wrote at The Register being credited to the
current editorial team? Of course not, it would cause an uproar. This sad
incident has to be seen in the same light.
Now that THG and The Register are
working closer
together, we can only hope that the editorial team at the Register
have sufficient sense and influence to be able to change THG's dishonorable
conduct so that the truth is known. If not, we can all look forward to the day
when Mike Magee is shown the same disrespect.
It should be an inalienable right that credit be given to those who have work
published. Today's episode is a sad indictment at the current level of
journalistic spin. Because of their influence, THG should be setting a far
better example to others in the hardware community. Today, their credibility has
fallen to new depths. To resurrect Van at THG, send your comments
here
and here. Let's
see if THG or the Register have a conscience to do what is right.
AMDZone's comments can be read here.
It just got worse, I've just checked the links for this story. Both the 'THG
Reporting Team' and 'Udo Schroeder' pseudo names have now been removed from
Van's articles, unfortunately, they still don't have the decency to apologize
for their conduct and to give Van the recognition that he has earned and
deserves [ed: the bylines have been completely removed]. Come on Tom,
would you be a happy bunny if all the articles that you had written had had your
credits removed? Have you totally forgotten the Hippocratic oath that guided
your medical career, or did you leave that behind? You have a duty to your
readership and your business partners to explain the dishonesty at your site,
and show Van the professional courtesy of crediting his articles.
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