A story broadcast and posted online by WMC-TV Action News 5 on Tuesday used copyrighted content from The Daily Helmsman without permission.
The story used a photo taken by Helmsman photographer Aaron Turner, originally published on Oct. 12 with Helmsman reporter Chelsea Boozer's story "UM's youngest student, 12, settles in."
The photo was attributed to The Daily Helmsman, but was pulled from the newspaper's website without consent.
It was removed from WMC-TV's website on Wednesday at the insistence of Helmsman Editor-in-Chief Scott Carroll.
WMC-TV news director Tracey Rogers said that the station assumed it had "blanket permission" to use Daily Helmsman content.
Candy Justice, General Manager of the Daily Helmsman, said that in her 20 years with the paper, no such relationship has existed between it and other media outlets.
"We have absolutely never had an agreement with anyone for blanket permission," she said. "They have to seek our permission, and even when they do, we rarely say ‘yes.'"
Boozer interviewed 12-year-old U of M student Arun Jambulapati and his parents for the Oct. 12 story.
According to Arun's mother, Suchi Jambulapati, the family declined to speak with WMC-TV for its story on her son. She said that she provided no information about Arun to WMC-TV.
Arun's former teacher, U of M Provost Ralph Faudree, did speak with WMC-TV for the story, but said that he did not provide several pieces of information the station published, including Arun's IQ and his major.
"There were several things listed (in WMC-TV's article) that we didn't discuss," he said. "I didn't know where they got that information. I never mentioned economics and nothing about (Arun's) IQ."
No other source is directly named in story, which was written by WMC-TV reporter Jerica Phillips. Several facts are attributed to "the administration" at The U of M.
A federal law restricts University faculty or administration from releasing academic related information about students.
The Jambulapati family directly provided such information to The Daily Helmsman for its Oct. 12 story on Arun.
