OPINION ARTICLE: MARRIAGE OF NEWSROOM REPORTING WITH PLAGIARISM By Adjekpagbon Blessed Mudiaga Although the Internet facilitates widespread dissemination of news and information globally, it has its own advantages and disadvantages in the field of journalism. While some serious minded journalists are using it to carry out researches on various topics of interest, many lazy ones see it as an avenue of practicing what could be termed “Rank Xerox journalism,’ or ‘Newsroom reporting,’ in conjunction with plagiarism. Over the years, I have noticed in several Nigerian print media newsrooms, how some groups of journalists sit in the news room from sun rise to sun set to either conjure fiction as facts or plagiarize people’s works on the Internet in order to beat deadlines of newspapers going to bed. This condemnable style of journalism is also condoned by some editors who don’t want to be seen as inefficient or late in meeting deadlines set by the top management board of the organization they work for. ‘Newsroom journalism’ can therefore be defined as the practice of many journalists who sit in the newsroom of various print media houses and download the works of other journalists online and present same to their own management for publication, with their bylines attached as the original writers. This increasing trend among many Nigerian journalists is caused by a number of factors which include sycophancy (eye-service), ethnicity, laziness, incompetence, office dating, et cetera on one hand, and poor salary, draconian management policies, partisan politics among top management board members, mismanagement of funds and non-payment of salary on time by media house owners on the other. Some never-do-wells are also being employed as correspondents and editors, which affects the intellectual standard of any news medium. Due to such inhibiting factors, many journalists no longer call a spade a spade. According to Prince Tony Momoh’s book titled ‘Journalism In Nigeria; So Far, So Well’ (2010), “a journalist should not copy, wholesale or in part other people’s works without attribution and/or consent.” But the reverse has been the case among some Nigerian journalists. As a former Sub-Editor of one Nigerian popular newspaper, I had an overdose of plagiarized works presented by junior and senior correspondents, which I drew the attention of the most senior-editor-in-charge to several times, but nothing was done about it. Since downloading is cheap, one of my colleagues and I were especially overloaded with such trash to edit and were published. Plagiarism is not limited to one particular beat alone in the pen-pushing profession; it is very common among writers on beats such as sport, crime, fashion, metro, and politics. In order to be seen as punctual by some media houses top management staff; some journalists, both junior and senior correspondents have been sitting comfortably in cozy newsrooms with their laptops which they use for ‘newsroom reporting.’ There is nothing bad in researching into any topic of interest on the Internet and writing one’s own views after reading the opinions of other writers, but what is bad is the habit of copying others articles verbatim and presenting them as yours. Those who engage in this style of journalism are only endangering the integrity and prestige of the media houses they are working for. Readers are not fools. They read on net too and could stumble on the same article already published by another media house purportedly republished verbatim with a new headline and byline by another newspaper. Unfortunately, such sit-tight newsroom lazy-about and sycophants are the ones witch-hunting (eye-servicing) their colleagues who are actually going out into the field to source for authentic timely news and events on daily basis in their areas of coverage. I have also noticed a kind of rivalry, antagonism, rancor and back biting by some lazy and shameless inefficient writers being backed by some frustrated editors against those who are truly hard working but may not be advocates of ‘showmanshipism’ (deceitfully seated in the newsroom always to be seen by top management board members), while submitting their reports as at when due. One major virus identified as the cause of ‘newsroom reporting’ which could also be termed ‘newsroom Ebola-syndrome,’ is the under-staffing of some beats by some media houses management board. For instance, when a correspondent who was employed to cover a primary beat like politics, is later also asked to start reporting arts and entertainment, the work load becomes too much for him, and this could make him resort to downloading other writers’ works on net and present same as his original work. To compound the woes of such overstretched reporter, his salary for two or more months may not have been paid, yet he is expected to report to the office daily or go out to source for fresh stories for publication. How can this be possible? Is a human-being a bird that can fly anywhere it wishes anytime to get news? Even, a hungry bird can never fly well, just like a hungry journalist can never write well, when hunger starts giving him serious lower cuts, hard jabs and upper cuts, he could write that late King Jaja of Opobo was the first President of America. While not supporting the idea of newsroom journalism being practiced by many Nigerian print media writers these days, top management board of media houses and owners of such organizations are also to be blamed for also failing to live up to their responsibilities of giving incentives and prompt payment of salary to motivate journalists to make them work hard and remain constantly loyal. Dedication and sacrifice put in by serious minded journalists should be rewarded accordingly instead of blackmail and threats. Threatening hardworking but poorly paid or not paid on time journalists, with queries, suspension, or outright sack will not help the industry to grow in any way. No wonder many media houses are full of all-comers employed by some Nigerian dailies as correspondents and editors. If newsroom journalism (newsroom reporting among print media journalists) must be nipped in the bud, or reduced to a reasonable minimum level, top management boards of media organizations should start investigating properly, the reports of many journalists who usually sit in newsrooms everyday from morning to evening and presenting downloaded items from Internet as their own reports, especially in the areas of sport, fashion, crime and politics. The sport pages of many Nigerian newspapers are always replete with similarly downloaded stories from the Internet. It is the worst beat of journalistic plagiarism practice as far as I am conscious of, among sports correspondents and editors in Nigeria. On the contrary, beats like arts, entertainment and judiciary are not areas where any correspondent worth his salt can easily download materials to plagiarize. These beats require vigorous research into different materials and attendance of events to be able to write any report or insightful analysis. For instance, you cannot download the review of a book by any other writer and present it as your own review. You must read a book before you can review it, and it takes time to review books and other arts materials. Moreover, some reporters who tend to stay away from newsroom and lazy-about outside in the name of sourcing for news should also be closely monitored. Not being available daily in the newsroom does not necessarily mean a correspondent could be working. What determines whether an absent correspondent in the newsroom is working or not, is the number and quality of report he sends in from time to time within intervals of deadlines. It is also wrong for newspapers management board to ask correspondents to report at the office daily like a bank staff, before going out to source for news or attend events especially when they are being owed salary arrears. This can be likened to Old Stone Age system of journalistic administration. Where will they get money from, to embark on such wild goose chase? This does not augur well for good staff and management relationship. In conclusion, when correspondents also act as sub-editors or production editors in any media organization that is grossly understaffed, there is no way such journalists won’t become “honourable professors of newsroom reporting,” courtesy of Internet downloading that has become a vogue in different Nigerian print media houses. As long as the top management staff of any media organization recognize only the efforts of ‘witch-hunters’ always baby-sitting laptops in newsroom from dawn till dusk as hardworking, efficient and physically punctual journalists, newsroom reporting and plagiarism would continue to dominate modern day journalism practice in Nigeria. END (Note: This article has been published at page 11 of The UNION Newspaper today (September 2, 2014 edition) , with little omission of some portions editorially. Try to get a copy of the newspaper and savour many other juicy articles in it, written by some seasoned journalists).
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 13:21:25 +0000
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