Eat your peas and carrots
‘Tis the season to report on farmers. Apparently, many of us are not only getting the same story idea at the same time, but also reporting on it AND quoting the same sources in our stories. How embarrassing 
It was a couple of months ago that I was asked to write an article for a local magazine about farmers’ markets. I forged ahead and submitted my article to the editor on deadline Thursday morning. How ironic an illegitimate twin of my unpublished article was born in the Belleville Intelligencer less than two days later.
I’m not saying that writer nabbed my story, somehow hacking into my editor’s computer and plagiarizing my copy. It’s just that I feel like we’ve both worn the exact same dress to the same party and I bought mine first.
Her article was published in the newspaper’s weekend edition. My article won’t be out until next month. Post script: here’s a link to the article – see page 9.
So this morning I wrote up a quick radio story as an homage to the sources I interviewed. They can now say they appeared on the radio, on the Web, in the newspaper and in a magazine all within the same month.
At least my article will be longer and more in-depth.
And anyway, it’s not about us, right? The reporters are not the story.
So remember “Farmers Feed Cities“, buy local and eat your peas and carrots.
