Journalist interview Ebola doc only to have Fox ‘steal’ his scoop and traffic

A reporter is accusing Fox of “stealing” a profile of Kent Brantly, an American doctor who almost died after contracting Ebola in Africa.

Bobby Ross Jr.’s story first appeared in The Christian Chronicle, Mediate first reported.

Two days later, a story appeared on Fox’s website, with links to Ross’ story.

Fox did admit that the bylined reporter, Caleb Parker, did not interview Brantly or his family for the story.

Fox defends the story, pointing out the links to the original work.

While it’s hardly uncommon for media outlets to rehash other outlets’ reporting (this post is an example of just that), Ross told Poynter that he felt slighted by Fox’s “aggregating” of his story.

He also notes that given Fox’s massive online presence, its version of the story was likely able to reach many more readers — most of whom probably didn’t click through to the original story.