Maybe I’ve lost my ability to be shocked.
Amid the frenzy around the accusing and, later, double-secret probation of Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente this week, I was struck by one question: Why are we so surprised?
I came up under a traditional definition of plagiarism, one employed by Western’s Office of the Ombudsperson in its official documentation as well: “Using another’s work without giving credit.”
Simple enough. Plagiarism is theft – only of ideas, instead of concrete stuff.
So the line, for me, has always been rather solid.
It is not a term to be thrown around carelessly, as its echoes resonate far beyond the moment, forever following the guilty. I have fired two reporters for plagiarism, and even though I was 100 per cent in the right, it was still tough.
In recent months, we’ve all seen a number of high-profile publications caught up in an epidemic of cases. CNN, Time and The New York Times have all dealt with serial plagiarists. And one, New Yorker writer Johan Lehrer, who, among other sins, was accused of plagiarizing himself. (A debate for another day, perhaps.)
For the record, I cannot stand Wente’s columns, as she is the type of blowhard Baby Boomer who has dominated the opinion pages of major newspapers for too long. Should it be a surprise nobody is rushing to her defense, at least outside of those whose reputations are also being damaged by her recent sins? Guess a career of ridiculing academics, teachers and every generation after her has come back to haunt.
Personally, I hope it’s the last we see of her.
But it doesn’t look like it.
Borrowing from such little known rags as the New York Times or a high-profile columnist like (Ottawa Citizen columnist Dan) Gardner is practically the definition of career suicide. Responsible editors – and decent human beings – wouldn’t just investigate the writer; they’d help her if there turns out to be “some truth” to the claim. Show me a plagiarist and I’ll show you someone struggling and in need of some support.
Which is what any experienced journo will tell you – we hate the sin, but we have compassion for the sinners. Most are in real trouble.
So, I copied those above paragraphs, from “Borrowing from …” through “in real trouble,” from Shannon Rupp. I thought they made the point about Wente’s situation beautifully (as does the entire piece, Why old media fears the Wente story, over at thetyee.ca. Go read it.).
But see how easy that was? A couple of keystrokes, a copy and paste and done.
And you didn’t even notice until I told you.
In the post-Internet world, the temptation can almost be too much. Writer’s block is no longer something to be struggle through, but solved by a quick Google search. For the columnist, especially one tasked with multiple deadlines a week, it can prove too tantalizing.
And they know fewer cops are on the beat.
Walk into any newsroom and this is what you’ll see: Increased pressure on reporters to produce, under the additional burden of under-staffed newsrooms, with fewer and fewer editors and copyeditors vetting the information. It’s a recipe for disaster, pointing to this happening more often, not less. (Remember, it was a blogger, not an editor, who alerted all to Wente.)
Is that an excuse? No. But it’s a factor.
What angers me is not that this happened, but it appears the Globe and Mail has no problem with it happening.
But, then again, none of us really care. It’s the world we created.
Plagiarism has evolved from a malicious act to one born out of pressure, laziness and/or desperation brought on by a lack of creativity or dearth of ideas. Wente has been guilty on both counts for years.
But I ask, is she any worse than Emily White, the 21-year-old who penned the NPR piece, I never owned any music to begin with, where she admitted to buying only 15 CDs worth of music in her life, yet has a library of more than 11,000 songs. Of course, there are millions of Emily Whites stealing music, movies and books every day. And we don’t care.
We have created a world where the theft of ideas – to pass off as your own or simply to fill up your iPod – is accepted.
A New York Times story, Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age, pointed to an ugly future.
According to the Times, surveys show about 40 per cent of 14,000 undergraduates admitted to copying a few sentences in written assignments. Perhaps more significant, the number who believed copying from the web constitutes ‘serious cheating’ is declining — to 29 per cent from 34 per cent earlier in the decade.
Understand, plagiarism is not solely a media problem, but a societal one, because there is a lack of respect for content, and the people who produce it. We have created a world based on the perceived ‘free’ nature of such things, and that’s going to be a tough habit to shake.
Even for someone like Margaret Wente.