Writer friend and I were talking about journalistic ethics again. It’s a topic we bring up on occasion, and it’s one that leaves us both shaking our heads. We mainly lament the lack of ethics courses in various college journalism/media concentrations. We wonder out loud and to each other, where exactly do these new journalists and media people learn their ethics? I chimed in that common sense should rule, but again, if your parents taught you no common sense, how are you going to know where to draw the line?
This came up after I’d talked to my youngest about her college Ethics course. I was more than a little surprised that her major – Communications and Mass Media – does not require a Journalism Ethics course. Nope. Instead, she talked about religious ethics, which may help but doesn’t exactly outline plagiarism and copyright law.
Here on this blog I’ve brought up various situations of unethical behavior, such as the dude who removed attributes from an article I supplied. Then there was the dude who wrote a book based on the content of several other books, blatantly lifting ideas from others’ pages and claiming them as his own. Oh, and let’s not forget the editor who, when reading a freelancer’s query proposal, said without another thought “Which one of you staffers wants to write this?” It shocks me how often people in creative professions will leave numerous footprints all over ethical standards. But again, don’t you have to be taught those?
So here are a few ethical lines you should not cross:
– When in doubt, don’t.
– If you didn’t write it, you have to give credit to the one who did.
– If you like someone else’s idea, congratulate them. Don’t reword it or revise it or otherwise steal it and call it yours.
– If you quote another source, you MUST give attribution.
We as writers have to take a hard conservative line. If the schools aren’t going to help the next generation (or even the current one) to understand what’s ethical and what’s not, we have to police our own ranks.
I know some of you have had website copy lifted and reprinted without your permission. How did the offender respond? What else have you experienced?
I’ve never had my copy lifted (should I be insulted?!), but back in my cubefarm days, I often had coworkers bring me competitors’ marketing materials. They’d say “I like this–can you recreate it for us?” Um . . . no. So I’d find out what the person liked about the piece (sometimes it was just the color or overall tone), and then I would then try to bring a similar but still unique element into whatever I was working on. I suppose that could be considered a fine line too . . . but I like to think I always stayed on the right side of it.
I’ve had my copy lifted, but I never got a response (darn those sploggers!). In regards to giving credit, what is your take on ghostwriting? I do some of that for my clients and in those cases I do it for steady, relatively painless income, rather than a clip I can show all my friends.
I had several blog posts I wrote for my Performancing blog stolen, word for word. I did all the stuff you’re supposed to do, but got no response from anyone to whom I reported it. Even Performancing powers that be didn’t respond to my notification.
Then I started posting a huge copyright notice with each post and a nasty comment about the person who’d done it. The stealing and posting VERBATIM continued.
I abandoned the Performancing blog because that was the only one I had trouble with.
It’s aggravating, infuriating, and exhausting. In the end, you go through the motions of reporting in accordance with the DMCA, but it does little good unless you have a huge “power” behind you like a major organization or publishing house willing to go to bat for you.
Joan, that’s awful! Between yours and Susan’s situations, it sounds like unless there’s a lawyer involved, complaints go nowhere.
Thanks to Google Alerts, I’ve found several of my short stories, essays or articles stolen, one even had my name still on it, like I’d given permission or been paid! I threw a fit, asked for payment (knowing I wouldn’t get it) and demanded it be taken off the site. But how many others are there that have changed the title and/or removed my name? No way to trace those. Grrrrrr
Good for you, Angie. I think if they’re using your material, you’re owed money.