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Is my editor making me a plagiarist?
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November 10, 2009
- Posted by
QUESTION:
I really need some advice. My editor removed quotation marks from a direct quote I took from an online statement (from a press conference) in an article and tried to pass it off as my work. I told her that I had a problem with that because, in my opinion it wasn't paraphrased, it was plagiarized (because the quote still appeared word-for-word). She said journalists have free reign to use any info presented either by news release, public statement or interview as public knowledge and that it doesn't need accreditation. I disagree. Please advise, Name withheld  Answer by Winnipeg Sun columnist Kevin Engstrom.Removing quotation marks from a direct quote taken from an online statement or press release is dangerous, as it could conceivably present a person's opinion as fact. You also run the risk of journalistic dishonesty - presenting someone else's words as your own. That said, in the grand scheme of things, this type of practice - while wrong - is increasingly common in the industry and is hardly a firing offence. And if basic, independently verifiable information is available, then I would agree there is no need to give a person or organization credit for merely repeating it. How you deal with this entirely depends on the culture of your newsroom and the personalities involved. Reporters in most - if not all - newsrooms in this country have the right to remove their byline if they aren't comfortable with the edited copy. If nothing else, making such a polite request will inspire a conversation about such newsroom practices. Good luck. Kevin Engstrom is a stunningly handsome, surprisingly sophisticated city editor and columnist for the Winnipeg Sun. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dear Name Withheld:
Let's cowboy up. That would be free rein your editor claimed you had.
I agree. I'm not sure why the copy editor would remove the quotation marks from a real quotation, unless cutbacks have affected the amount of punctuation we can use now. When reproducing quoted statements in a press release, it is also honest to add "said in a press release" so that the reader knows it wasn't a statement obtained in a real interview. Readers know that prepared statements are vetted before release. To avoid making paragraphs of "fact" taken from a press release sound like the reporter's own writing, even if paraphrased, you could put "the group alleged in a press release released Friday". The readers then know it is the subject's version of the facts and not yours, and that you got it from a press release and not a real interview. It is always better to err on the side of letting the reader know the circumstances under which the information was obtained, if it was not obtained from a real interview or investigation. And I know we're all busy and staffing is tight, but if it is worth reporting at all, it is probably worth at least a telephone call to do your own story.
Not too many years ago, Winnipeg Free Press sports writer Scott Taylor was in fact fired for doing exactly this: lifting chunks from press releases and using them without quotation hashmarks.
In his defence, he said sportswriters routinely do this.
That does not make it right. Lifting and using quotes without properly attributing them, and lifting and using verbatim chunks out of news releases is completely unethical, as well as Just Plain WRONG!