DIGITAL NEWSBOOK Telling theTrut h and Nothing But National Summit to Fight PLAGIARISM & FABRICATION SHOW CONTENTS Telling the Truth 2 Contents 1 5 Hearing the Call Preparing Pages 3-4 for Tomorrow 2 Pages 44-48 Defining 6 the Problem Participants Pages 5-15 Pages 49-57 3 7 Building Barriers Notable Incidents Pages 16-30 Pages 58-64 4 8 Responding What They’re to Lapses Saying Pages 31-43 Pages 65-66 Sources Pages 67-71 More information about the National Summit to Fight Plagiarism & Fabrication can be found on the American Copy Editors Society website at: www.copydesk.org/plagiarism/. 3COVER show SOURCES CHAPTER 14 Telling the Truth 3 1 Hearing the Call HE IMPETUS for this project ers of other organizations to nominate was a column that appeared on members of a task force to begin the the Poynter Institute’s website in campaign that Silverman envisioned. TSeptember 2012. In it, Craig Silverman She proposed a “summit” meeting at deplored a “cavalcade of plagiarism, fab- her organization’s annual conference rication and unethical recycling” during in April 2013 to discuss the findings the previous few months, a period he de- and recommendations of the task force. scribed as journalism’s “Summer of Sin.” Within a month of Silverman’s Silverman urged the major journal- challenge, planning had begun under ism organizations to “gather what ma- the direction of William G. Connolly, terial and policies they have and deter- a retired New York Times editor and a mine what guidance they can offer to longtime member of the ACES execu- newsrooms.” The ultimate result of that tive committee. A doctoral dissertation effort, he wrote, on plagiarism by Norman P. Lewis, an “would be clear guidelines for assistant professor at the University of plagiarism and fabrication and a Florida, became the starting point for consistent process for investigating the inquiry, and Lewis was drafted as and communicating about these an adviser to the task force. incidents internally and externally.” Starting with a conference call on Teresa Schmedding, the president of Nov. 26, 23 volunteers representing the American Copy Editors Society, re- 10 professional organizations formed sponded to that call by urging the lead- themselves into three committees un- 3CONTENTS SHOW SOURCES CHAPTER 24 Telling the Truth | Chapter 1 ©2013 American Copy Editors Society 4 der the leadership of Henry Fuhrmann, they helped finance. Words or passages an assistant managing editor of The Los in bold indicate links to web pages. To Angeles Times; Bob Heisse, executive see the links, which are collected in the editor of The State Journal-Register in “Sources” pages, touch or click on SHOW Springfield, Ill.; and Nancy A. Sharkey, SOURCES at the bottom of the page. To a professor of practice in the School of return to the text, touch or click on the Journalism at the University of Arizona. page number to the left of the link. Vital support for the project was pro- This study is not very long and cer- vided by the Ethics and Excellence in tainly not scholarly. Our hope is that Journalism Foundation and the Reyn- it’s sufficiently provocative and prac- olds Journalism Institute at the Univer- tical to prompt in every newsroom in sity of Missouri School of Journalism. every medium a habit of asking a ques- The text that follows is the prod- tion that’s been grunted by generations uct of those investments and the work of grizzled editors: “Says who?” u Participating Organizations The following organizations have lent support to the project. Journalism groups Companies Institutions American Copy Editors Society AOL, Inc. Doane College Associated Press Media Editors The Chicago Tribune Media Law Center for Ethics and American Society of News Editors Daily Herald Media Group Access, Kent State University The Poynter Institute Canadian Association of The Dallas Morning News Journalists Digital First Media Scripps Howard First Amendment Center, University of Kentucky College Media Association The Los Angeles Times KOMU-TV University of Arizona Journalism and Womens University of Florida Symposium Morris Communications University of Kansas Local Independent Online News National Public Radio Publishers The Omaha World-Herald University of Massachusetts University of Missouri Online News Association The State Journal-Register Special thanks to the Reynolds Radio, Television, Digital News TucsonSentinel.com Journalism Institute for Association WGCU Public Media producing this e-book. Visit: Society of Professional Journalists Yahoo News www.rjionline.org/newsbooks 3CONTENTS SHOW SOURCES CHAPTER 24 Telling the Truth 5 2 Defining the Problem LAGIARISM is presenting ing first produced by someone else. some one else’s language or Journalists must know how legal work as your own. Whether it concepts such as copyright, fair use and Pis deliberate or the result of careless- trademarks apply to the profession. But ness, such appropriation should be they must go beyond minimum legal re- considered unacceptable because it quirements to serve the public interest hides the sources of information from and treat creators fairly. Although one the audience. Every act of plagiarism cannot legally protect an idea — only its betrays the public’s trust, violates the specific expression in a tangible medi- creator of the original material and um is subject to copyright protection — diminishes the offender, our craft and journalists should attribute the original, our industry. distinctive or seminal ideas of others The best way to avoid plagiarism is to when the ideas form a substantial basis attribute information, a practice avail- for their own work. able in any medium. Credit should be With all of this in mind, we affirm given for information that is not com- a golden rule of attribution: Principled mon knowledge: facts, theories, opin- professionals credit the work of others, ions, statistics, photos, videos, graphics, treating others as they would like to be drawings, quotations or original word- treated themselves. 3CHAPTER 1 SHOW SOURCES CHAPTER 34 Telling the Truth | Chapter 2 ©2013 American Copy Editors Society 6 We believe that principled news the solution: attribution. In doing so, organizations develop and enforce in- we drew upon the research of Norman ternal standards regarding plagiarism, Lewis of the University of Florida, attribution and fabrication. They make whose authoritative doctoral disserta- clear to their staffs that transgressions tion on newspaper plagiarism provided are unacceptable. They nurture a cul- an intellectual guidepost, and on the ture of truth-telling by spelling out editorial policies of numerous news- the rules; by providing mandatory and rooms and news associations. A close continual training to prevent infrac- reading of our thoughts will therefore tions; and by dealing with transgres- reveal echoes of the work of fellow sions forthrightly, firmly and fairly. journalists, notably those who crafted The results are accuracy, honesty, the standards in place at The Seattle transparency, informed audiences and Times and National Public Radio, better journalism. among others, and the guidelines Journalism itself is founded on the advocated by the Radio Television public’s right to know about our wider Digital News Association and other society, its institutions and its leaders. respected industry organizations. To extend this idea, the public that As a group of professionals drawn consumes our journalism has a right from the print, broadcast and digital to know how we do our work, where worlds, from newsrooms and class- we gathered our information, how we rooms, from individual organizations know what we know; that we are tell- and industry associations, we decided ing them, to the best of our ability, the at the outset that our definition must whole truth and nothing but. apply to any medium in which journal- ists work. After all, few news organiza- tions these days produce only a single The solution: attribution product. Newspapers and magazines In attempting to define plagiarism, we publish websites and apps, attract- started with the presumption that we ing more readers digitally than they would have to couple the problem to could ever reach in print. Broadcasters 3CHAPTER 1 SHOW SOURCES CHAPTER 34 Telling the Truth | Chapter 2 ©2013 American Copy Editors Society 7 We maintain that online, as in all other media, respect for the work of others through clear, appropriate attribution is the best method to uphold the principles we value. are similarly using new media to ex- hyper-competitive nature of the mar- tend their already wide reach. Digital ketplace and the very real constraints news sites employ video, audio and of air time. We nevertheless challenge other tools, showing the way for more that vital segment of the industry to traditional media. All of this is linked embrace a stronger standard for attri- by social media, which bring our read- bution. ers, viewers, listeners and users more While online news sites employ the directly under our journalistic tent. familiar forms of text, images, audio As the industry continues its deep im- and video mixed with reporting tech- mersion in new media, crossing from niques available only in digital media, platform to platform, it makes sense the ease with which material may be for journalists to carry their standards copied and the speed of innovation with them. create their own tests of professional Although the tools of the trade dif- standards. We maintain that online, as fer by medium — and the means of in all other media, respect for the work proper attribution differ accordingly of others through clear, appropriate at- — we believe that it is essential to as- tribution is the best method to uphold sert the same principled standards and the principles we value. approaches for operating on different Attribution is both a professional platforms. We recognize that broad- responsibility and a good business casting presents special challenges practice. Online readers, for example, because of long-held traditions, the have indicated that they find reporting 3CHAPTER 1 SHOW SOURCES CHAPTER 34 Telling the Truth | Chapter 2 ©2013 American Copy Editors Society 8 containing links to be more authorita- trust.