What's the big deal? When producer Edgar J. Scherick died, many major papers, including The Los Angeles Times, quoted from interviews Edgar gave me just before he died, without attributing them to me or my website. This is routine. It happens to me all the time.

Roger Friedman et al, you can't copyright news.

Yes, it is a good thing to always quote sources (not that I always do). The Talmud says that he who quotes a source correctly brings redemption to the world.

But attacking WENN for bad entertainment journalism is incongruous when there is so little good entertainment journalism (best is found in the WSJ).

Not crediting one's sources isn't just rude (to the source). To me, it severely undermines the credibility of the item.

For instance, I'd regard an item attributed to, say, Entertainment Weekly with a lot more interest than I'd give one from Roger Friedman, who all too often seems to be clueless. And an item without attribution is, at best, gossip.

Same goes for unattributed quotes. I just automatically assume the reporter to be making them up to illustrate a point.