hr332511@ohio.edu
Transparency in the media is becoming more and more important as media moves into a new age of fast paced journalism where instant publication is more important than accuracy. News organizations such as the Society of Professional Journalists and the Radio Television Digital News Organization state in their ethics codes that transparency is an important value in their organizations.
The Problem Today
News organizations are having problems with plagiarism and fabrication of information with professional journalists from interns to long time editors and columnists. Poynter's article "Roundup of plagiarism & fabrication cases" gives examples of different organizations including the Washington Post, ESPN, New York Times, USA Today and The Boston Globe, that have all had problems with plagiarism and fabrication. This proves that even the more prominent news organizations are not exempt from mistakes.
Notable Cases
In Poynter's article, Will Selva, a reporter for ESPN, said that he simply cut and pasted from a newspaper column with the intention of rewriting his own story. This kind of pressure to get stories and media published instantly leads to mistakes and sloppiness. The media today is all about using information from different sources but these sources must be credited or else it is considered plagiarism.
Another notable case is that of Jayson Blair of The New York Times in 2003. Blair was accused of fabricating quotes and stealing material from other news organizations and was eventually fired from the Times. The video below shows Blair discussing his thoughts and actions that led to the fabrication of his stories. It first started when he was working on a story about 911 and lifted a quote from the Associated Press without attributing it to the AP. The video aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) in 2014 as part of a "Where are they now" segment.
10 years after the legendary Jayson Blair scandal, The New York Times published the article "Repairing the Credibility Cracks"discussing the consequences that the scandal had on the Times and what they have done to combat future instances of plagiarism and fabrication. The article says that one of the biggest lessons that the Times learned from the incident was how hurt the readers were by the incident.
If trust, accountability and credibility are to continue to be some of the ethical values that journalists have, it is important that news organizations and professional journalists be held to high standards of transparency so that readers don't question truth of what they are reading.
An Easy Solution?
There seems to be a simple solution for plagiarism and fabrication in the media. In my eyes, the solution is more regulation and effort by editors and news organizations to be more transparent if they are getting material from other sources. Although the solution seems easy, it is harder than it seems. Plagiarism and fabrication of material has been a problem for many years and the urge to get sloppy in order to be the organization to break news first and worry more about speed rather than accuracy. As a journalist, the number one priority is to provide the truth to the public and plagiarism of material provides the exact opposite to readers and audiences.
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