Sunday, June 1, 2008

STOP THE PRESSES! Jerusalem Post responds to our protest; removes references to "exclusivity" from Israel baseball story; No, they didn't credit us

In a perhaps unprecedented move, the Jerusalem Post has removed all mentions of exclusivity from its online story about the cancellation of the Israel Baseball League and Israel professional Baseball League's 2008 seasons, after Our Man Elli in Israel pointed out to the Post editor David Horovitz that TabloidBaby.com had reported the news on April 14th, and that the Post's reportage in the story and accompanying column were taken from TabloidBaby.com's comprehensive coverage.

The Post's lead graph originally read:

"The much-hyped Israel Baseball League, which was slated to begin its second season June 22, has been cancelled for 2008 and its future is in jeopardy, The Jerusalem Post has learned."

It now reads:

"The much-hyped Israel Baseball League, which was slated to begin its second season June 22, has been cancelled for 2008 and its future is in jeopardy."

As you'll recall, we reacted in outrage on Thursday and Friday, after the Post deigned to finally cover the story that had been shifting in leaps and bounds in its own backyard for close to a year, making no mention of Elli Wohlgelernter's legwork, reporting and exclusive after exclusive in the saga that brings in baseball, business, billionaires, securities fraud, U.S. ambassadors, misappropriation of funds, beaned players, Nixonian cover-ups and whispering campaigns, name-calling, threats, competitive eating, cream cheese-filled bagels and killer toys all under one roof.

"Hey, the people at the Post are stand-up guys, especially David Horovitz," says Elli. "I phoned him to relay my concerns. He listened to what I had to say and he responded like that demonstrated what a professional and ethical journalist he is."

Although the Jerusalem Post did not add a line acknowledging Tabloid Baby's singlehanded coverage of the Israel baseball debacle over the past ten months, we didn't expect it. At least they didn't stonewall us like the Chicago Tribune did after That Putz Greenberg plagiarized us.

A tip of the Tabloid Baby hat to the Jerusalem Post!

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