Hello, I am working on a blog that covers the airline industry. I use Business Wire, Dow Jones Newswires, PR Newswire, etc to get all the latest press releases from the airline companies. When I blog or paraphrase the press releases... Should I cite my sources with the newswire providers who relay the press release or directly source the company that released the press release? And secondly, do I need to link back to the press release or just mention the provider or company name? Lastly, I'm using images from Flickr... This is how I've been doing it. At the end of the article I say: Image: Flickr and give the link to the actual image which includes the photographer's account...Am I doing that correctly? Thanks in advance! I'm a little paranoid and want to do this right.
I would say you should cite the original source of the press release. Almost every company has a "news" section on their corporate web site, and if you want to link back, I would link there. If you are just reprinting press releases via RSS feed, you should read the licensing terms for the sites that you get your news from. If they aren't clear, contact the sites for more information. For Flickr, you need to be sure that you are only using images that allow commercial use. You can do that via the advanced search page: http://www.flickr.com/search/advanced/ Scroll down and tick the box that says "Find content to use commercially" Usually the license also requires acknowledgment of where you got the image from.
Even where it is not required (such as reprinting a press release), citing your sources always adds to your credibility. You should do it as a matter of course. Although many websites do site BusinessWire and other press release agencies as a source, a conduit is never really an authoritative source. Unless it is not obvious what the real source is, you should not routinely cite the conduit as a source.