The problem of plagiarism

Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V. Or copy-paste. It's that easy to pass off someone's work as your own. But plagiarism is not only unethical, it can also be a crime: you can be hauled off to court for stealing someone else's intellectual property, be it a paragraph from a newspaper article or a chapter from a book. If that's the case, why does plagiarism continue? And what can writers and editors do about it?

Kelly McBride, ethics group leader at The Poynter Institute, explains how, in the post-Jayson Blair era, plagiarism has "become a more mundane, run-of-the-mill crime". And, in her column, she also provides advice and simple tips to both writers and editors on how to avoid the plagiarism trap.

Here's one of her suggestions for writers:

Do not cut and paste information from other sources into your notes pages. Instead, create bullet points where you synthesize the information in your own words and note the original source. 

And a suggestion for editors:

Require your writers to attribute.

To read the column in its entirety, and you must if you are a media student, go to "Why Plagiarism Continues & What Writers, Editors Can Do About It".

• ALSO READ: "The plagiarism case that shook The New York Times to its foundations".

AP's professional and ethical standards

Associated Press (or AP) is one of the world's leading news agencies.

Since discussions on professional and ethical standards are a regular feature of my journalism classes, Commitscions will benefit from studying the guidelines — the code — followed by AP journalists.

Here is a sample:

In the 21st century ... news is transmitted in more ways than ever before — in print, on the air and on the Web, with words, images, graphics, sounds and video. But always and in all media, we insist on the highest standards of integrity and ethical behavior when we gather and deliver the news.

That means we abhor inaccuracies, carelessness, bias or distortions. It means we will not knowingly introduce false information into material intended for publication or broadcast; nor will we alter photo or image content. Quotations must be accurate, and precise.

It means we always strive to identify all the sources of our information, shielding them with anonymity only when they insist upon it and when they provide vital information — not opinion or speculation; when there is no other way to obtain that information; and when we know the source is knowledgeable and reliable.

It means we don't plagiarize.

Let me know what you think.

When someone dies, we prefer to talk about only the good things they did

But when you are a journalist, it may be necessary to remove your blinkers, and also remove the blinkers from the eyes of the public.

Last year, in July, an icon of journalism, Walter Cronkite, died in the US. I had read only great things about him.

Now here's a wonderful columnist, Roy Peter Clark, pointing out, as a public service, Cronkite's flaws.

Do you agree with this approach? Do you like the writing?

Roy Peter Clark is the Poynter columnist whose Writing Tools blog provides intelligent and helpful advice to writers, both beginners and veterans. Read, for example, his column on the use of the semicolon, "Good semicolons make good neighbours". The article also gives you tips on the use of other punctuation marks. A must-read for Commitscions.

Tweeting can be hazardous to your job...

...as a CNN journalist found out after she posted a note on Twitter expressing admiration for a late Lebanese cleric considered an inspiration for the Hezbollah militant movement.

Two days after her tweet was published, she was sacked by CNN.

Read why here.

Getting into journalism after an MBA? Is it worth it?

Yes, says Sidin Vadukut, the managing editor of livemint.com in his witty "Cubiclenama" column in Mint. Here's an excerpt:

First I tried convincing them [management students] by declaring that the trade-offs are totally worth it. Sure, they would make much less money, forfeit expense accounts, give up swanky offices and never be able to buy palatial homes with infinity pools by the time they are 35.

But in return most journalists don’t have to wear suits, ties or closed footwear to work — “You guys can walk into a newsroom right now in those very same clothes and nobody would say a thing! Except you there in the bright orange shorts with yellow flowers. You should go into advertising.”

Also, I told them, journalists attend fewer meetings, freely access Twitter at work, and only use spreadsheets to calculate House Rent Allowance.

As an added bonus, I said, we sometimes go entire weeks without using phrases such as “touch base”, “boil the ocean” and my personal peeve: “let us revert from our end”.

Read the full column here. Make sure you read the concluding paragraph.

"Advertising's Next Gen"

Businessworld recently published a very interesting cover feature about 10 talented youngsters to watch out for in the field of advertising. Read the story here.

"Why Avatar is bad for the movies"

After I watched Avatar in 3-D recently, I was convinced that 3-D is the future of movies. Then I read the cover story in Newsweek by Roger Ebert, one of the world's foremost film critics. "I hate 3-D," he writes, "and you should too". He makes a compelling case, I have to say, as he lists nine points in favour of his argument. Here's his first point:

IT’S THE WASTE OF A DIMENSION. When you look at a 2-D movie, it’s already in 3-D as far as your mind is concerned. When you see Lawrence of Arabia growing from a speck as he rides toward you across the desert, are you thinking, “Look how slowly he grows against the horizon”? Our minds use the principle of perspective to provide the third dimension. Adding one artificially can make the illusion less convincing.

Read the full piece here to get into the mind of a brilliant movie analyst.

From Wimbledon, a wonderful description of "the longest, strangest, darnedest tennis match ever played"

Tom Perrotta of The Wall Street Journal was there at Wimbledon to witness American John Isner and Nicolas Mahut of France slug it out over three days. He begins his report with a six-word intro. Then come the statistics. Followed by an account of the end of the game and a poser about what the marathon tussle means for tennis. Read the full piece here.

• AT SECOND REFERENCE: In our newspapers the policy is to use full names at first reference in a news report or feature, and the last name at second reference. The policy of WSJ is to use the salutation "Mr." (or "Miss" or "Ms." as the case may be) at the second reference. Hence these constructions in Perrotta's article:

On match point, Mr. Isner belted a backhand winner, dropped to the court and screamed. Moments later, he embraced a sullen Mr. Mahut, who hadn't lost a game on his serve since the ninth game of the first set of this first-round match. That was Tuesday.

• So what happens when Perrotta has to mention Isner and Mahut together? Take a look:

Messrs. Isner and Mahut did more than play for days and delete pages and pages of records. They put Wimbledon at the top of the sporting world (even with a certain soccer tournament going on). On Thursday, these two men were no less a story than Queen Elizabeth II, who hadn't paid a visit here in 33 years.

Apologising to readers

Journalists can make mistakes. They are not infallible. And when mistakes are made that are considered serious by newspapers, a correction is mandatory.

Here is Mint's policy on corrections and clarifications:

Mint welcomes comments, suggestions or complaints about errors.

Readers can alert the newsroom to any errors in the paper by emailing us, with your full name and address, to feedback@livemint.com.

It is our policy to promptly respond to all complaints.

Readers dissatisfied with the response or concerned about Mint’s journalistic integrity may write directly to the editor by sending an email to asktheeditor@ livemint.com

Mint’s journalistic Code of Conduct that governs our newsroom is available at www.livemint.com.

And here is the Corrections & Clarifications box from Mint's June 26 issue:

A FRONT PAGE APOLOGY IN ToI

Click here and go to the anchor item on Page 1 of the Sunday Times (Bangalore) e-paper of June 27.

THE FRONT PAGE APOLOGY IN THE TIMES OF INDIA, BANGALORE EDITION.

THE HINDU'S POLICY

It is the policy of The Hindu to correct significant errors as soon as possible. Please specify the edition (place of publication), date and page.

The Readers' Editor's office can be contacted by Telephone: +91-44-28418297/28576300 (11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday);

Fax: +91-44-28552963;

E-mail: readerseditor@thehindu.co.in

Mail: Readers' Editor, The Hindu, Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860 Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002, India.

All communication must carry the full postal address and telephone number.

No personal visits.

The Terms of Reference for the Readers' Editor are on www.thehindu.com.

And here are the corrections published on The Hindu's Op-Ed page of June 29:

Corrections and Clarifications

An entry in a graphic “Women at the helm” (“International” page, June 26, 2010) said “Philippines — Gloria Arroyo, President; Since 2004”, leading to a query. Ms. Arroyo is still the President. On June 9, 2010, the Congress of the Philippines proclaimed Benigno S. Aquino III as the President-elect of the Philippines. He will take the oath of office on June 30, 2010 as the fifteenth President of the Philippines, succeeding Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Abdolmalek Rigi was 31 years old. The second paragraph of “Behind Rigi's hanging” (Editorial, June 24, 2010) said he was 26.

The heading of a report “Worst has passed: UAE ruler” (“International) page, June 27, 2010) should have said “... Dubai ruler”. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who made the statement, is the Prime Minister of the UAE and the Ruler of Dubai, which is one of the seven Emirates.

The heading of a PTI report (June 27, 2010) was “Man shot at by kin of girl he was to wed”. It should have been “Man shot at by wife's kin”, as mentioned in the text.

The UID is a 16-digit number, and not a 12-digit one as mentioned in the first paragraph of a report “LIC to act as registrar for UID project” (“Business” page, June 10, 2010).

UPDATE (April 11, 2012): An apology to readers, Economist-style — CORRECTION: In our piece on California water last week, we claimed that a softball is four times the diameter of a tennis ball. In fact, it is only 50% bigger. Time we got out of our armchairs. — The Economist, April 7th-13th, 2012

Publishing grisly photos

Should newspapers print photographs that can upset readers? Should television news channels show pictures of a graphic nature? Should media websites provide links to "death photos"? These questions do not have pat answers, as senior journalists will testify.

Last June, after a Thai newspaper published what it said was a photo of actor David Carradine's body found hanging by ropes in a Bangkok hotel closet, Al Tompkins of Poynter Online weighed in on the issue by explaining why the "alleged Carradine death photos should not be published". In the article, Tompkins also threw light on the decision-making process that goes on in newsrooms regarding the inclusion of graphic content.

Tompkins also provided a link to Pearl Photo: Too Harmful, a piece by his colleague Bob Steele on the ethics of such decisions. Steele wrote his column after a Boston paper published "horrific pictures" of the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

Both articles give us much to think about.

'THE PERILS OF PREGNANCY'
Still on the subject of photos that can upset readers, Time magazine on June 21 published a photo feature titled "Maternal Mortality in Sierra Leone: The Story of Mamma". Subtitled "One woman's journey from pregnancy to death", the feature comes with a warning: "Please note that this gallery contains graphic content."

Was Time justified in publishing these pictures? Let me know what you think.

• Here, meanwhile, are the letters re: "The Story of Mamma" that Time published in its issue of July 5:

A MOTHER'S TOO BRIEF LIFE
While I appreciated "The Perils of Pregnancy," about Mamma Sessay, I take offense at the pictures. Showing this woman at her most vulnerable was disrespectful. Would these photos have been cleaned up if she were not a poor African woman?
Tola Abe,
Raleigh, N.C., U.S.

Your piece on Sessay's death during childbirth brought tears to my eyes. The piece made me scared for the millions of women in the world who lack medical care. How long will we cry for our women?
Abdul Sebiotimo,
Abuja

Please let me know what I can do to help Sessay's family or another family avoid the same fate.
Angela Bolds,
Lawton, Okla., U.S.

ALICE PARK RESPONDS: CARE and UNICEF, which accept individual donations, have excellent global maternal-health programs.