However, there was a Rolling Stone article several months ago that frustrated me to no end. It was a cover story that contained not a single new quote or primary source info. I’m a big fan of the featured artist and assumed there would be new material. But when I read the actual article, there wasn’t anything new. I could have written the article using the books that were on my shelf. And no credit was given to those original publications. If you didn’t already have a shelf full of information about this band, you would have assumed they sat down and talked to the article’s author.

So the point is that I don’t know how much credit you have to give. If Eric Clapton gives an interview to The New York Times, can I use his quotes? Do I have to say, “In previously published interviews, Clapton said x, y, and z” or can I act like he told me those quotes?

And can headlines be considered one’s own work? In this case, the Arkansas article certainly mimics the NYT headline, but are headlines protected in any way?

All of which is to say that although I found the similarities very noticeable, I didn’t feel like I could make any more serious allegations.

Have you brought this to the attention of the Editor at the Arkansas Traveler?