Plagiarism, schmagiarism: Journalistic word theft slowly killing industry integrity

I remember the moment when I was first plagiarized. It was a special moment... finally I wrote something worthy enough to be stolen from me. 

It was a story about a man who robbed a Bank of America in 2010 wearing a bright blue yarmulke. One year after the incident the man remained unidentified and at large. The only evidence police had included a security camera photograph of the man stuffing a wad of cash into his jacket, and the testimony of the bank clerks. My editor, Josh Fisher, asked me to find out if the Darien police had any information on the guy. So I began making phone calls.

Three police officers received voice mails and emails from me over several days. Finally I figured out that he was caught in California, but I still didn’t have his name. More phone calls, more emails, more waiting. Nearly two weeks later I finally get all the details about this guy, his history, everything. We run the story as the lead on the front page.

The next day a competing news website had the same story. It was completely reworded, but not a single detail was in this scraped story that was not in mine — every detail I included, the other reporter included, and every element I omitted, he omitted. He wasn’t even around when the incident took place in 2010, in fact, his website wasn’t even operational. No credit was given either.

There is a certain amount of fury that comes with an experience like this. It's as if someone took something personal from you, like a family heirloom or, perhaps worse, some aspect of your self. After all,  stories are mere extensions of who we are as people, as individuals, and for a story to be taken and claimed by someone else is a cruel and unusual form of identity theft. The kind that bears fruit for the person who didn't even plant the tree.

Celebrating co-optation in the 21st Century

Do human beings posses an innate sense of sharing, to the point where we might take something from someone under the assumption it should be shared with us? 

Several billion people around the world celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25 — the day the church (aside from Julian calendar followers) decided to mark the day that Jesus of Nazareth was born in Bethlehem. It's also near the time of the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and celebrated by pre-Christians for centuries.

Is plagiarism becoming acceptible?

October of 2011 was the worst month since 2005 for plagiarism, according to Regret the Error's Craig Silverman.

Silverman wrote a post for Poynter.org where he reported nine cases of plagiarism in October. The second worst month was in March of 2008, according to Silverman.

What does this mean for modern journalism? Obviously people are still being reprimanded in some way, but some of these cases could even be considered copyright infringement. These reported cases are likely a small fraction of actual word theft.

Does this mean limited plagiarism is becoming acceptable, as long as the theft doesn't take away from the value of the original piece? Or does it mean that we are just not keen-eyed enough to catch all cases? Does any of this matter?

Let us know in the comments.

Saving Ethical Journalism: No better time than now

Saving Ethical Journalism —

The golden age of journalism. What a phrase. And what a time to be living as a professional wordsmith. For anyone who is passionate about storytelling and digging at the truth, no time in history comes close to living right now. 

But with every yin there is a yang. Content farmers, over-aggregators, scrapers, brand journalists and their ilk have invaded the journalism profession, tainted it with rubbish and spoon-fed it to the masses. Plagiarists and copyright infringers face little penalties for online theft, as it has become so commonplace it is apparently acceptable. Not only is respect for the journalism profession falling each year, but it becomes harder and harder to be professional as a journalist. 

So how do we bring ethics back to our profession, when there are “journalists” who steal content and claim it as their own? How do we maintain any ethical integrity when there are special interest groups such as oil companies, investors and energy firms creating content and presenting it as news? How do we stop content farmers from cutting and pasting entire stories, which could actually make us appear as the thieves? 

This blog is dedicated to ensuring that the journalism revolution does not devolve into a daytime talk show. We are committed to exposing hidden agendas among content generators, and connecting people who believe the future is bright, if only we can agree to respect each other. 

We care about free societies and the whole truth. We are optimistic skeptics; excited about our new tools but concerned about misuse. We invite you to join our efforts and help us to evolve beyond this ethical ambiguity and toward a renewed sense of integrity and esteem for the one profession that is tasked with keeping all other professions working properly — especially our own. 

Join us!