Plagiarism and the News Media

Abstract

Practically, we, as journalists, are bound to tell the truth. We are in the business of making the truth known to the public. If we lie, not only are we breaking our moral obligation as civilized human beings, as characterized by Kant, but we are destroying the very purpose of our jobs. If we are caught in our lie, we not only embarrass ourselves, but we destroy the credibility of the newspaper for which we work. The public has no way of knowing which parts of the paper may be inaccurate and which parts are truth. The public, in order to perform its role in a democratic society, must have accurate information about what is going on in the world around it. And we, as journalists, have an obligation to the public to provide that information to the best of our abilities. If we are lying to the reader when we do not attribute, it would seem that lack of attribution is coming dangerously close to the realm of plagiarism.