Jayson Bair is famous in the journalism world for all the wrong reasons after committing the most frowned upon crime of the profession.
And it happened before the social media-age and the explosion of online.
With the vast amount of article and media consumption that comes with the worldwide web, instances of plagiarism and copy write issues continue to rise. Editors, professors and reporters fight to make sure their writing is not only their own but that its also protected from the Jayson Blairs of today’s generation.
“It’s a huge issue. It’s a huge problem,” said Alan D. Abbey, director of media relations and internet services at Shalom Hartman Institute in Israel. “But it’s the nature of the beast.”
Describing the many problems that come with online reporting, Abbey remembers writing a speech for his daughter bat mitzvah, using her favorite phrase from Ben & Jerry’s: Peace, Love and Ice Cream. He wanted to track down the origin of the creamy dessert. In many articles online, it said King Solomon enjoyed the tasty treat. But there was no source listed.
“In scripture, King Soloman and men have iced drinks and somehow that morphed into ice cream,” he said. “So is that plagiarism or just sloppy writing? Is it plagiarism taking (the fact) verbatim without confirming it and assuming its right … This is the problem time and time again…. This is why skepticism is a good thing. “
Might be a few outlets could’ve used his help when Manti Te’o came around.
“This is starting a new journalism venture,” he said. “Going back to the data and getting the facts. But even then, your facts and my facts are very different.”
Patrick Mattimore, psychology columnist from The Phuket Gazette in Thailand has his own take on what plagiarism is or isn’t. For example, he takes parts of pieces he’s already written previously and includes them in current work.
“I use it because I thought I wrote it pretty well the first time and it’s my work anyway,” he said.
What’s important, said Jere Hester, director of New York City News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism and former reporter at New York Daily News, is that people are familiar with the rules, especially young journalists.
The director said he’s most concerned about students inadvertently making mistakes because of the ease of copy and paste and the speed they’re expected to produce content. To stop the crime in its tracks, they start teaching the concepts of plagiarism early and often, teaching students to be their own editors.
“It’s become even more important in the digital age because there’s so much material out there, “ he said. “It’s more important than ever to be transparent because its now more difficult to filter content.”
Want to discuss the issues of plagiarism and online more? Check out the viewing of “A Fragile Trust” Friday night at 7 p.m.
September 5, 2014 • 2014: Nashville