When you turn on the lights in your home, do you quickly thank the electric company, power plant, solar panel company, or wind turbines that provide that electricity? Did you qualify reports in school that tipped off the teacher where to look for the plagiarized material? Of course not. So why do content creators constantly feel the need to credit your source? This is a common mistake that makes no sense.
There’s no point in opening a segment with:
According to an article in this month’s Cosmo…
A new USA Today survey says that…
I saw on HGTV last night that…
We were just on the Entertainment Tonight website during the break and found out…
I was watching The Today Show and Savannah talked about this guy in Ohio that…
It makes no sense. When you credit your source, you transfer attention from where it belongs (you) to the source.
Disclaimer: There are times when a responsible journalist should reference the source of news content. It can add credibility, protect the organization from legal liability, or advance a story by involving the source. But those are exceptions. And most of you are not journalists. You’re entertainers.
