Rich says his linking is as much about backing up his argument as it is about adding background. If one’s argument is only as good as one’s facts, Rich sends you to his facts. “Now, sometimes it’s unlinkable material,” he says. “But why not give the reader, if he or she wants to, the opportunity to see the sources, or a source, when it’s available? It helps bulletproof the column, because if they say ‘He must be making that up,’ they can look and see — here’s the source, take a look and judge it for yourself….If I’m citing a figure, at the most banal level, from the Labor Department or a poll or an economic report, [why not] link to the whole document it comes from?”

Blogs are a regular source for journalists. Over three quarters of reporters see blogs as helpful in giving them story ideas, story angles and insight into the tone of an issue.

Nearly 70% of all reporters check a blog list on a regular basis. Over one in five (20.9%) reporters said they spend over an hour per day reading blogs. And a total of nearly three in five (57.1%) reporters said they read blogs at least two to three times a week.

Journalists are increasingly active participants in the blogosphere. One in four reporters (27.7%) have their own blogs and nearly one in five (16.3%) have their own social networking page. About half of reporters (47.5%) say they are “lurkers” – reading blogs but rarely commenting.

The majority of journalists thought blogs were having a significant impact on news reporting in all areas tested EXCEPT in the area of news quality. The biggest impact has been in speed and availability of news. Over half said that blogs were having a significant impact on the “tone” (61.8%) and “editorial direction” (51.1%) of news reporting.

The summary of the survey is available here. Some not so surprising, but still tantalizing results from the summary:

• 78.3% of journalists surveyed report “getting story ideas and news angles” from blogs.
• 76.2% of journalists surveyed report “getting insight into the tone of a debate or discussion” from blogs.
• 31.6% of journalists surveyed report “identifying and validating news sources” from blogs.
• 27.7% of journalists surveyed report “finding quotes and soundbites” from blogs.
• 25.4% of journalists surveyed report “getting ’scoops’ or exclusive stories” from blogs.

The most important aspect of Brodeur’s report for our purposes at Can I Get A Link Please? is account for those journalists who get their scoops, find quotes, and validate news sources using blogs, but forget to credit bloggers for that information. Is there any part of Brodeur’s report that you find surprising?

Linking is what makes content on the internet move, and although a lot of bloggers sell themselves and their original content short, original content deserves to be sourced properly. It was the amateur bloggers that created this system, so it’s the mainstream media that must adapt to its conventions–not the other way around. If the Associated Press thinks it’s okay to try and re-frame online free use and sourcing conventions because it suits them one way, independent bloggers need to stand up and point out how it won’t. And one way we can show mainstream media publications that the conventions established over the past 20 years by new media pioneers benefit everyone is by reminding them that what works when sharing media is the sharing part.

So, send up your stories about being quoted without being sourced and we’ll publish them.