During a recess in today’s Hawaii County Council meeting, Jason Armstrong came and sat behind me in the Council Chambers. He and I were among a small crowd who listened in on the Kona meeting via teleconferencing. At first, I thought Jason had sat to talk-story with us — I was sitting next to Dave Smith, who, long story about a union mess, is Jason’s colleague at the Hawaii Tribune-Herald.
A few minutes into our conversation, Jason claimed that I misquoted him here, (please note that my reference to him in that blog entry offered no direct quotes). He accused me of “stealing intellectual property” from Hawaii Tribune-Herald, and he offered this blog entry about Waters Of Life Public Charter School as an example.
Readers, take a look at that blog entry and see how I used a thumbnail of a William Ing photograph, credited William Ing and stated, “Read the Hawaii Tribune-Herald’s coverage of Waters of Life’s victory here.”
My references to the newspaper and its articles have been to be inclusive and neighborly. To me, I’m having a virtual conversation about the news of the day. In no way am I trying to rip anyone off. Whenever I have mentioned the Hawaii Tribune-Herald and any articles therein, I have always been diligent about attribution. Please, call me on anything you have seen in which I have not provided attribution. Admittedly, I’m sure we can go back to blog entries at the beginning of this venture and find that I have not linked some of my references — This was because I didn’t know how to link! I have since learned to do that, and I have to go back to earlier entries and clean up my records!
But to suggest that I’m “stealing intellectual property,” my God that is probably the worst insult I have ever had. Needless to say, I’m still reeling from that conversation. Jason was still trying to talk as the meeting convened; our conversation ended by me saying if he goes around telling people that I’m “stealing intellectual property,” then he is slandering me. As Jason walked away, I looked at Dave and asked him if he thought that I have ever plagiarized or stole intellectual property; he said no.
From here on out, I will link this story when I make reference to Da Kine who works down at Da Kine.
July 22nd, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Plagerism is a matter of integrity. Who works for the HTH. Tiffany you virtue is in tact.
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Pfft!
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:57 pm
First off, don’t you mean “Plagiarism”? Sorry to be the spelling Nazi… — Argh, yes, all fixed. — tceh
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Tiffany, you should have warned Jason that, since his statement had been communicated to a third party, Dave Smith, he had committed slander per se.
Armstrong should apologize.
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Mr. Armstrong should read up on the doctrine of Fair Use in copyright.
For starters, it is not plagiarism unless you are quoting verbatim, without attribution, someone else’s written words. I certainly don’t see any evidence of that here.
Secondly, the examination of fair use in copyright law utilizes 4 characteristics, which are as follows:
1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
Unless you are quoting verbatim from their articles without attribution (see plagiarism above), the only fair use issue I see here is with the use of William Ing’s photographs. I’m not sure who actually is the copyright owner of his published work, but an evaluation of the use against the 4-part test indicates to me that you may very well need a license to use the images in this way. While your attribution is noble–and if they are smart, they will realize that you are helping to publicize their product–you really should be seeking permission before using the image in this particular way.
However, this is an issue between you and the HTH or Mr. Ing, whomever is the rights holder, and not Mr. Armstrong.
He is clearly upset you have exposed his shoddy journalism and is frankly acting a bit childish about the matter. Which of course only makes him look even more silly.
July 23rd, 2009 at 8:07 am
Bruce just hit a homerun with his post. I’ll go a few steps further.
Jason is mad that Tiffany called him out over his work of fiction that he wrote for HTH about me and county internet use.
He called me to “talk” about my concerns that he read “on a blog but wanted to make sure that was really how I felt” I told him I didn’t want to speak with him and implied that if I decided to deal with it further I would have my lawyer contact his bosses, and that I had said everything I was going to say to him.
This is not the only reason Armstrong is pissed. He has been getting his ass handed to him by The West Hawaii Today for years. First by Tiff, then by Jim Quirk, and now by Nancy, they all produce better work, have a better working relationship with the officials so they get information for there stories first, I can remember at least two separate instances last council term where Armstrong was whining about not ever being given information first, in fact the only “scoop” Armstrong got recently was being given my internet use report in violation of the code, since the department head (Ken Goodenow in my case)is the only one authorized to give it and Jason blindsided Ken with the report before he had even looked at it.
So that’s just a little insight as to why Jason is pissed and why he was happy to allow himself to be used by the powers that be in the county internet use situation to attack Dominic Yagong, and me.
I for one hope Tiff’s lawyer is sending a letter to Ted Dixon threatening to sue if Armstong doesn’t issue a public apology, since his remarks were public
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:46 am
Well we all know that he is following this particular post. He could be in the running or gunning for David Bock’s job- so he has to make it very clear that he is out for the best interests of the HTH. Even if these accusations are unsubstantiated.
If the HTH really had an issue with Tiffany then Ted Dixon himself should contact Tiffany, and not via surrogates or “journalism vigilantes” like Armstrong, who seems to have it out for Tiffany and BIC…and bloggers in general.
Pfft. And anyway, I read his piece on the County Council meeting, there was more information that could have been put in there.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:24 pm
So sorry– I was puzzled by Steve’s comment with reference to Jason Armstrong: “He has been getting his ass handed to him by The West Hawaii Today for years.” I have never heard that expression before. If he means that the West Hawaii Today reporters do a better job, it would be helpful to say so.
July 23rd, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Cheryl,
That expression has been used for a long long time. East coast, West coast, Hawaii …. even other countries. I’m so surprised to learn someone hadn’t heard it before. But you did understand it perfectly! Good for you!
July 24th, 2009 at 7:54 am
Yes Cheryl it does mean they do a better job. Tiff, Jim, and Nancy are pleasant to talk to . They all took time to build relationships with the officials they would be dealing with and getting information from. Jason on the other hand really is for lack of a better term a journalistic wannabe. He wants to be a New York times reporter but in reality belongs writing for the gossip section of a school newspaper.
As a result of his actions people would rather talk to the West Hawaii Person, Dave Bock has to see it, has to know it but just doesn’t do anything about it.
July 24th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Both papers are owned by same company. Reporters write the stories they are told to write. Then the other paper uses the story written by the reporter for the other paper.
I think you are forgetting that Jason started at West Hawaii. What I find more interesting is that reporter after reporter leaves West Hawaii as soon as they can find another gig. They never have nice things to say about Mr. Flickinger on the way out either.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Reed is another story, another discussion. As for Jason Armstrong I stand by what I’ve said. Tiffany Edwards, Jim Quirk, and now Nancy Lauer consistently produce better work than Armstrong, get better leads, more “scoops” etc. Armstrong is a wannabe, period. Why he is allowed to continue to act the way he does, spin his fiction articles to make the front page, threaten bloggers, etc is beyond me, guess the write person hasn’t sued his butt yet.
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