U.S. expert says plagiarism rampant in RI journalism

JAKARTA (JP): Proper sourcing in editorial writing is the best way to avoid plagiarism, an American journalism expert said yesterday.

Visiting Fulbright professor Alice M. Klement said plagiarism happened because of the way that news was packaged and delivered.

Klement told at a seminar here on plagiarism in Indonesian and American media that another reporting flaw was the use of press releases without follow-up by reporters to check accuracy.

Press releases produce 80 percent of news in the United States, she said.

"If a reporter said in an article that the sky is blue, the editor would ask him or her to ask God to check the facts," she quipped.

"Plagiarism will continue because of tight deadlines and writers seek recognition for their work despite the fact that it is unethical," she said.

She said that plagiarism in the media was complicated by the Internet, which made information accessible to anyone at any time. This makes it hard for copyright lawyers, she added.

Klement said she was concerned by the way many Indonesian media organizations shamelessly plagiarized wholly or partially editorial material and photographs from foreign and local media.

She said that American reporters who plagiarized faced dismissal but this was not the case for Indonesian reporters.

American editors hate reporters who lied about their printed work, she said.

University of Indonesia law professor Loebby Loqman acknowledged that much work remained to be done in developing a culture of proper appreciation and respect for other people's opinions in Indonesian society.

Loebby, also a member of the honorary council of the Indonesian Journalists' Association, agreed with Klement's urge to fully attribute a writer's work whether in journalism or academia. It does not have to entail royalties unless the work is for commercial means, he said. (01)