Here is something that only a small number of journalists in this city care about. If you are not one of those journalists, then please move along. There is nothing to see here.
Yesterday, at 9 a.m., our own Nancy Nichols broke the story that Kent Rathbun is suing one of his partners to regain the rights to his name. Nancy came to this story not because someone had tipped her to it but because she thought, “Hmm, Rathbun resigned from Abacus. I wonder if anyone is suing anyone over this deal.” Then she went searching through Dallas County records to see if such a lawsuit existed, and she found one. Is this an important story like the fake-drugs scandal, where people’s lives hang in the balance? No. It’s just a juicy little morsel about a celebrity chef. Could anyone have found this lawsuit? Yes. But Nancy is the one who thought to go looking for it.
The Dallas Observer understood that Nancy deserved credit for her work. When they published an item at 2:15 that suggested funny name changes for Rathbun, they did the honorable thing and gave a nod to Nancy for breaking the story. The Dallas Business Journal understood. When they published an item at 2:41, they did the honorable thing and gave props to Nancy for breaking the story. You know who didn’t do the honorable thing?
It’s unclear to me when the DMN posted their story about the lawsuit. When they updated the item today, the time stamp changed. But they tweeted out the story last night at 8:15. Regardless, the DMN did not do the honorable thing when they wrote about the story that Nancy broke. To that I say:
