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Propaganda and Plagiarism -- Discussion

Tue Mar 28, 2006 at 12:02:12 PM EST

In the Spring and Summer of 2005, Charlie Wilson, SusanG, and Ron Brynaert dove into the "reporting" output of Talon News (GOPUSA) to uncover how much of it was propaganda (recycling neo-con press releases as "news") and how much was out and out plagiarism. The series was completed before ePluribus Media even had a public web presence.

But the debacle that occurred with the hiring and subsequent resignation of Peter Domanech at blogspot.washingtonpost.com brings the issue of plagiarism to the fore once more. So we've dusted off the ePluribus Media's feature: Talon News: Propaganda & Plagiarism, a feature that focuses on Talon News and Jeff Gannon's practice of "lifting" other writers' work.

more below the jump

commentary :: :: :: buzz-it!

Charle Wilson, in the lead story Talon News: Propaganda and Plagiarism looks at how Talon News put together stories, especially in light of the number of journalists losing their lives gathering news, while the Gannons of the world contented themselves with peppering government paid for copy with stolen snippets of creditable news -- all from the safety of their desks.

Ron Brynaert and SusanG wrote the ePluribus Media piece You’ve Been Plagiarized! And Brynaert provides a paragraph by paragraph look at the plagiarism evidence in the PDF file: Documented Plagiarism by Talon News.

The entire feature is a refresher on what plagiarism is and a call to those plagiarized to stand up for their unique rights to the product of their creativity.

Luaptifer's commentary, Citizen Journalism Priority: Avoiding Plagiarism in Research and Writing here on the ePluribus Media Community site provides clear guidelines of how to avoid plagiarism.

Many ePluribus Media writers, researchers, editors and production folk contributed to this effort: Kiw, NyBri, Ron Brynaert, Charlie Wilson, SawcieLacky, wanderindiana, kfred, luaptifer, Sue in KY, SusanG, Standingup, Stoy, JeninRI, Maddy Houseman Sojourner, Sean Mykael, and Ryan Fenno

If you like what ePMedia's been doing with research, reviews and interviews, please consider donating to help with our efforts.

Propaganda and Plagiarism -- Discussion | 12 comments (12 topical, 0 hidden)

Plagiarism (5.00 / 1) (#1)

The Jayson Blair debacle was 3 years ago. And yet, here we are once again with the Washington Post having hired Domanech without seeing there was a bit of a problem.

Do people just not care or do they just not know how to use quotes?

by susie dow on Mon Mar 27, 2006 at 03:06:51 AM EST

People think its ok (5.00 / 2) (#4)

I've got the impression that a substantial chunk of the population thinks that "everybody does it" so its ok. Not the reaction you'll see in a professional environment, but the kind of response I've seen when I've called people on it.

by silence on Mon Mar 27, 2006 at 08:21:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Silence... (5.00 / 1) (#6)

just read your thread of replies to StormingAmerica...

Excellent...and thanks.

by Cho on Tue Mar 28, 2006 at 10:38:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]

: Ditto (5.00 / 1) (#7)

We just cannot allow the dishonesty to go unchallenged. Good job, silence.

by kfred on Tue Mar 28, 2006 at 11:34:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]

silence, that was quite an excellent (5.00 / 1) (#8)

exchange you made and done in a way that your counterpart actually listened.

very well done discussion and closed with an important underscore!

by luaptifer on Tue Mar 28, 2006 at 10:58:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

: Thanks (5.00 / 1) (#9)

I'm not entirely sure that I got through to him -- I can't tell the difference between a diary consisting of plagiarized text run through a thesaurus and original work of poor quality.

by silence on Wed Mar 29, 2006 at 08:29:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Wild West Internet (5.00 / 1) (#2)

Might it be bad habits leftover from when the Internet was new and freewheeling? If you could find it out there it was yours. I'm speculating, but these seem to be ingrained bad habits. It's only been in recent years that newspapers and other media have started posting their works online, hence the need to recognize things like copywrite laws and trademarks. Carelessness, speed of the newcycles all feed into this same behaviour.

It takes time and effort to come up with original material.

by kfred on Mon Mar 27, 2006 at 02:55:44 PM EST

About plagiarism (none / 0) (#3)

an anonymous source tipped me off to this concern about plagiarism.

Christian Sentinel Publisher Bill Alnor (who is also a journalism professor at Texas A&M University - Kingsville, USA) has compiled considerable research during the past six years as he begins to write his Ph.D. dissertation on the topic of plagiarism and religion. First, Bill asks for your prayers as he plans to become increasingly outspoken on this communication problem affecting the evangelical media.
"I am also now seeking additional help from mostly the evangelical world and specifically the publishing industry in pulling together more specific information of why plagiarism has become a rampant problem within the Christian world," Bill said. "It seems to me that Christians at least should know the Ten Commandments, and one of them is, `thou shalt not steal.' Can you help add anything more to my plagiarism charts? This does not imply that anyone supplying me with additional tips has become a researcher in my doctoral dissertation project. Ultimately, I am personally investigating all tips. I'll keep your help confidential, as I am also surveying various publishing executives.

Source: The Plagiarism Project, William Alnor

No snark intended, I think this is a good thing to be concerned about.

by Cho on Mon Mar 27, 2006 at 02:59:46 PM EST

: Religion hasn't got much to do with it (5.00 / 1) (#5)

I'm not sure religion has much to do with it. I've see plagiarism by MBA students at Godless Cornell, in the form of interlaced material from different web sites, and uncredited slightly edited articles by Krugman distributed over the Xinhua wire. To make the case that there's really a religious problem with plagiarism, you'd need statistical sampling, not merely compilations of anecdotes.

by silence on Mon Mar 27, 2006 at 08:26:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Today at Kos (none / 0) (#10)

Two notes today in the open thread on plagiarism.

Josh Marshall had one of his writers, Paul Kiel, get ripped off by the AP.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/3/29/213252/100

by susie dow on Thu Mar 30, 2006 at 03:05:37 AM EST

Good example. (5.00 / 1) (#11)

Paul Kiel and Justin Rood are not bloggers in pajamas. They are paid reporters with impressive backgrounds, probably even more impressive than the AP reporter who ripped off Kiel.

Justin Rood is the Washington, D.C. correspondent for TPMMuckraker.com. His work has also appeared in the Washington Post, Salon.com, the Washington Monthly, Congressional Quarterly, Government Executive, on National Public Radio, and elsewhere.

Paul Kiel is a blogger/reporter for TPMMuckraker. Based in Brooklyn, NY, he also writes for The L Magazine and works for Harper’s Magazine, where he cut his teeth as an intern fact-checking the Index and chasing down items for the Readings section.

In 2003, he helped found UnionDocs, a documentary arts collaborative located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Paul has a B.A. from Columbia University.

Some words from Marshall on the subject:

Now, I've worked in the mainstream media. And not infrequently reporters will think they deserved a credit when they don't get one. It happens. . . . And I wouldn't be making a point of this were it not for the fact that ripping off original reporting from blogs is clearly routine.

The work they are doing at TPMMuckraker is incredible. Though they are paid employees of TPM, i feel they are raising the bar for community-based reporting on the internets. How this whole AP ripoff thing plays out will be interesting to watch.
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by wanderindiana on Thu Mar 30, 2006 at 08:43:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]

: Atrios chimes in. (none / 0) (#12)

Good points here and a few mixed in with some inane reader comments (never did like HaloScan).
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by wanderindiana on Thu Mar 30, 2006 at 09:16:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]