In the past the plagiarism club has had some noteworthy faces CNET, The New York Times, most recently Weblogs Inc, and now entering the plagiarism club because its the lazy popular thing to do is The Associated Press.
Plagiarism is the reason that old media will die.
To appropriate the writings, graphic representations or ideas of another person and represent them as one’s own, (that is, without proper attribution). Plagiarism is a form of intellectual property violation.
I plagiarised that quote on purpose. To prove a point. Plagiarism is the art of attempting to masquerade your works as source. This is something that all Old Media wants to do. They never want to admit, credit, or reveal their sources. New Media however is betrothed to its sources. We interlink. We collaborate. We share ideas and we share credit.
The ways and means in which news is reported over the next 5 years will gradually change from the need to always be the source to developing rock solid news sharing communities. This is the success of new media startups like Memeorandum, and Newsvine, Digg and the like. Instead of needing to be the source they delegate. Instead they force you to link to the source. Bringing news into a central data point to share conversations around. New Media is not replacing Old Media, New Media is truly replacing the local coffee shop. It’s where the conversations are taking place. Old Media is being replaced by nothing. We are all finally waking up that Old Media will believe any old crock of a story and republish what doesn’t belong to them.
Old Media is killing itself piece by piece. Because it won’t fact check. It won’t verify sources and it clearly brushes off the New Media which isn’t New Media at all its the community of the consumer. As in any business if you alienate the consumer long enough your business will go under. This is why Newspapers are a dying breed. They are alienating the consumer.
Recently Jay Rosen mentioned the newspapers that are doing a good job. Arguably some better than others on this list. Plagiarism is a product of fear of new media, and the very consumers of your product. See bloggers aren’t afraid of republication. Most would probably allow for it if you just asked. But please don’t steal. If you are going to republish please contact us. Link to us give us credit. Because blogging takes time. The more I blog, and the more you steal the less I will read your papers, and your websites. Because there are plenty of good conversations going on around news stories. But because this is a blog. You will ignore this article. Probaby not even see it. In fact anyone that is driven by fear of giving credit will pass away. Driven by greed they steal, driven by laziness they fact check not. Driven by profits they are swayed by advertisers that pay the bills. But the advertisers go where the people are. This is why the Old Media will pass away. Because the people will find the blogs who are the sources. And yes Weblogs Inc you joined the Old Media last year when you were bought by AOL Time Warner.
hat tip: Search Engine Journal
Originally posted on March 31, 2006 @ 2:39 pm