When Isn't Plagiarism Plagiarism? When Is It?

The latest kerfuffle in the newspaper-stole-info-from-a-blog-it-didn't-credit war pits SB Nation's "Pension Plan Puppets" vs. the Toronto Sun.

In this corner, Pension Plan Puppets' post from Wednesday in which Tomas Kaberle's dad Frantisek says, "I don't understand why Tomas is staying in Toronto." (Important side note: The info came from Hokej, a Czech newspaper. The post is purportedly the first North American introduction of said story, translated into English.)

In this corner, a Toronto Sun story from Friday with the headline, " Kaberle's dad predicts a trade." The story cites Hokej and makes no mention of Pension Plan Puppets.

Anyway, the Sun — which gets credited by TSN for the info — gets called out on it and explains why this all went down to a reader. PPP then posts the apology.

The sticking point: Did the Sun independently translate the Czech story or did they just say they did and cut PPP out of the translating mix?

The sticking issue: When does a blog post warrant a print credit?

My take as someone who galavants throughout the old/new media DMZ? Well, I lost the initial link sent in about this whole dispute, so I re-read it on BroadStreetHockey.com. I don't think that warrants a BSH link, but I slid in a mention because I have ethical class. Had I been writing this in print, however, I'd cite Hokej and treat PPP's translation as a parenthetical note.

Winner: Pension Plan Puppets, by split decision.