Plagiarism, ignorance or just pig-headed?

Plagiarism means stealing and stealing doesn’t mean plagiarism! Funny is this Queens’ language, but it’s not amusing at all when one or both words are put in action especially by the so-called professionals particularly in the business of journalism. The issue of plagiarism in journalism especially in the developing world is a really contentious one because too often it’s the order of the day—fast forward and we’re in own backyard where plagiarism by local member of the press is a daily theme. But firstly, what is plagiarism? According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, plagiarism is the use or close imitation of the language and ideas of another author and representation of them as one’s own original work. Wikipedia continues to state that in journalism, plagiarism is considered a breach of journalistic ethics, and reporters caught plagiarizing typically face disciplinary measures ranging from suspension to termination. With journalism, research is very important but credibility is paramount, that’s why it’s always very important that journalists avoid doing anything that could put their integrity in doubt. Being a journalist myself, it’s not my responsibility to criticize fellow journalists whatever the circumstance(s)—actually it’s not (professionally) right for a professional to pass judgment on a fellow professional but like it’s said, ‘desperate times call for desperate measures’. Plagiarism is everywhere even in our everyday life, and the fact is that we can’t run away from it. But when it comes to journalism, it has no room. I know someone will say but all journalist world-over do plagiarism one way or another, and I’ll say yes but that doesn’t make it a right act, does it? I don’t want to name individuals but because ‘desperate times call for desperate measures’ I’ll cite a few examples of our local private radio stations that have made it a habit of plagiarizing The New Times work without giving credit to their ‘sources’—some do but the majority don’t and that’s what frustrates me. I’m all for plagiarism in its place, but journalism is not the place for lifting words from others -- every quote is meant to be sourced, and every source is meant to be cited. The culprits Some of these local FM radio stations are really professional in their work and they’ll credit the source of their news when they use other people’s work but others have consistently refused to carry out their responsibilities in a professional manner. I don’t often listen to the news bulletins on very many of these radio stations but for the reasons you may probably all know, there at times I do listen to their sports programmes. But what hurts is when I sit expecting to listen to something new or different from what I’ve spent the whole day doing on my desk at the office, only to hear journalist so and so shamelessly presenting Times Sport work word by word! Some stations like Radio Rwanda, Huye based Salus and Radio-10 do take the trouble to credit ‘Ikinyamakuru The New Times’ every time they use Times Sport stories but radios like Flash, Contact and City Radio don’t have that courtesy. Since journalism’s main currency is public trust, a reporter’s failure to honestly acknowledge their sources undercuts a newspaper, radio or television news show’s integrity and undermines its credibility. According to Wikipedia, journalists accused of plagiarism are often suspended from their reporting tasks while the charges are being looked into by the news organization, unfortunately or otherwise, that’s not the case in Rwanda. Plagiarism in Rwanda is not only very common with broadcasting reporters but also in print—they say you don’t bite the hand that feeds you, but there have some isolated cases of reporters of this very publication plagiarizing other people’s work without crediting them. For journalists, plagiarism is a career killer, because too much reliance on it for your daily reporting could be a real blow to the relationship between you (writer or reporter) and the reader(s) or listener(s). And with this dot.com era, where access to the Internet is as effortless as breathing air, the ease with which electronic text can be reproduced from online sources has lured a number of reporters into acts of plagiarism. Copy and paste syndrome Even the so-called professional journalists have been caught “copying-and-pasting” articles and text from a number of websites, which leads me to the question; do some journalists continue plagiarizing because of ignorance or they’re just pig-headed? Yes, I said pig-headed and not big-headed on purpose. I know it’s quite a sensitive topic in the eyes of most local journalists, especially those working in those private radio stations I mentioned above, but if we don’t discourage this (plagiarism) business, how are the culprits going to improve and develop into trusted journalists by their audiences? Or, how much does it cost this particular evening sports show presenter on Radio Flash (I don’t remember his name) to attribute or credit his sources? If you’ve been listening to his program which runs every week day at 8pm, he does copy and paste Times Sport stories, something that, as a person concerned cannot allow to go hands down, am afraid. He breaks where there’s a comma and stops for a full stop! Tries hard to be canny but he isn’t good enough at it to fool all the people. No pan intended. It’s no personal attack because I don’t know this chap one-on-one but my gut-feeling tells me he’s either not paid to source for his stories, his bosses don’t listen to his program or they don’t read The New Times, because if they did, they’d have arrested the situation long time ago—it doesn’t do their radio any good. Just my opinion Next week We shall talk about the ticket collectors at stadiums, who refuse Times Sport journalists free access to local football matches, insisting on cash you enter, press card you go back, “because you also sell to us your news paper,” they claim! Is it right for a sports reporter to pay to cover a local event or should the event organizers pay journalists to cover their events? Contact: nku78@yahoo.com