JOURNALISM ETHICS & ISSUESCLASS #8 | JRNL 4650 | FALL 2016

• Instructor: Bill Mitchell • bmitch (at) gmail (dot) com• 727-641-9407• 4 October 2016 | Northeastern Univ.

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WHAT WE’LL DO TODAY • The Olympics & Leaked Medical Records by Elise

• Suspicions at Bay by Olivia

• Ethical issues in the Presidential Campaign

• Review of Foreman’s Chapter 9: Stolen Words, Invented Facts or Worse

• Assignments for Tuesday Oct. 6

• Quiz (leave when you finish)

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VOX POINTS OUT NYT’S HEAVY RELIANCE ON THE WORD, ‘COULD’ IN THIS STORY

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LEAKER OF TRUMP TAX RECORDS NOT ONLY UNNAMED BUT UNKNOWN EVEN TO THE TIMES

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AND WHY IT’S OK THAT… LEAKER OF TRUMP TAX RECORDS NOT ONLY

UNNAMED BUT UNKNOWN EVEN TO THE TIMES

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ANOTHER GOOD USE OF ANONYMITY: WASHINGTON POST INVESTIGATION

OF TRUMP FOUNDATION

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STAKEHOLDERS IN PLAGIARISM & FABRICATION:WHY THEY MATTER TO WHOM

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• Audiences

• Subjects of the plagiarized or fabricated material

• Employers of the plagiarists and the fabricators

• Supervisors of the plagiarists and the fabricators

• Colleagues of the plagiarists and the fabricators

FORMS OF PLAGIARISM

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• Appropriation plagiarism

• Out-and-out lifting, often verbatim

• Research plagiarism

• Incorporating others’ research with insufficient attribution

• Idea plagiarism

• Swiping ideas for cartoons, columns, etc. without acknowledging source

• Self-plagiarism

• Recycling your own work without acknowledging earlier publication

WHAT IS PLAGIARISM?

• Taking credit for distinctive phrasing someone else has created.

• Lifting an idea without attribution• However, newsrooms disagree on

the specific definition.

This and following slides adapted from John Wiley & Sons’ Instructor’s Resources13

DEFINING PLAGIARISM, CONT.

The news industry punishes plagiarism severely but has difficulty defining the offense.Most cases involve “research plagiarism” – failing to paraphrase sufficiently.

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WHAT IS FABRICATION?

Making things up and passing them off as genuine.

An example: A reporter embellishes a quotation for more impact.

How principles of truth-telling & minimizing harm can collide on this topic

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A COMMON THREAD

Plagiarism and fabrication often result from workplace pressure.

The journalist thinks he or she has no other choice but to take a shortcut. (And that is a delusion.)

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A PROFESSOR’S PLEA

• Don’t steal.• Don’t lie.• Don’t make things up and pretend

that they are reporting.Cynthia Gorney

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APPROPRIATION PLAGIARISM: CHRIS CECIL, CARTERVILLE, GA. DAILY TRIBUNE NEWS, 2005Systematically stole columns from Leonard Pitts Jr., a Pulitzer Prize-winner.

Pitts wrote: “The dictionary is a big book. Get your own damn words. Leave mine alone.”

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FABRICATION: JANET COOKE, THE WASHINGTON POST.

1980

• Made up a story about an 8-year-old heroin addict named Jimmy.

• Won a Pulitzer Prize that had to be returned.

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FABRICATION: STEPHEN GLASS

THE NEW REPUBLIC, 1998• Wrote magazine stories that were so good they read like fiction. And they were fiction.• Concocted elaborate schemes to fool the fact-checkers.

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FABRICATION: PATRICIA SMITH,

BOSTON GLOBE 1998

“To create the desired impact … I attributed quotes to people who did not exist.”

“I could give them names, even occupations, but I couldn’t give them … a heartbeat.”

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FABRICATION & RESEARCH PLAGIARISM: MIKE

BARNICLE, BOSTON GLOBE 1998

• Wrote a column containing jokes similar to those in a book.

• Wrote a column about two young cancer patients that could not be confirmed.

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FABRICATION AND RESEARCH &

APPROPRIATION PLAGIARISM: JAYSON BLAIR, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 2003

• Wrote stories with facts and phrases lifted from other reporters’ work.

• Made up quotes and contrived scenes.

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FABRICATION: JACK KELLEY, USA TODAY, 2004

• Sent stories from abroad describing stunning sights. (He made them up.)

• Tried to fool the editors who were investigating his work.

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FABRICATION & SELF-PLAGIARISM:

JONATHAN LEHRER, THE NEW YORKER, 2012

• Recycled material from his previous work without telling his readers it was recycled.

• Fabricated quotations and plagiarized others.

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CONFLICT OF INTEREST: FOSTER WINANS,

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1980S

His column in The Wall Street Journal could cause a stock’s price to rise or fall.

He invested in stocks that he wrote about.

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LAW-BREAKING IN PURSUIT OF THE STORY: MIKE

GALLAGHER, CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 1998

Illegally tapped into Chiquita Bananas’ voicemail messages. (He was convicted, but his record was expunged years later.)The Cincinnati Enquirer retracted its investigative report on Chiquita’s business practices.

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LAW-BREAKING IN PURSUIT OF THE STORY: PHONE-HACKING SCANDAL

The News of the World hacked the voicemails of the royal family.When a 13-year-old girl vanished, her phone’s voicemail was hacked.The paper was closed, and a former editor was imprisoned.

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AVOIDING PLAGIARISM

The opposite of plagiarism is attribution. Use it.Attribute any phrasing that is not your own.Be careful in research, especially when copying and pasting.

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AVOIDING FABRICATION

An ethical journalist would never make up facts or consciously distort the facts.

But what about quotes? Tools you can use:

Paraphrasing (no quotes)

Inserted words in parentheses

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THE NEWSROOM CULTURE

Someone who plagiarizes or fabricates may get away with it for a while.The editing system is designed to catch honest errors, not deliberate misconduct.Some experts call for random use of software to detect plagiarism in reporters’ copy.

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THE CONSEQUENCES

A journalist judged to have committed plagiarism or fabrication faces double penalties:1. Losing his or her job – and quite

likely a career.2. Having the misdeed reported to the

public, because the public has been deceived.

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ASSIGNMENTS FOR THURSDAY OCT. 6

• Read and perhaps post a comment to posts by Corlyn & Wolff

• Read Chapters 10 in Foreman (Conflicts of Interest)

• Ethics in campaign coverage: Send me your examples (optional)

• Note: Personal Ethics Code due Oct. 13 as a post on your blog

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QUIZ ON FIRST EIGHT CHAPTERS OF FOREMAN’S “THE ETHICAL JOURNALIST”

• Make sure your name is on the quiz

• You’re free to leave when you finish

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