By Aisling McCarthy

Finding plagiarised content

The first step to dealing with plagiarism is being able to find it. A quick search of either your name or an excerpt of your article, under the ‘news’ tab, can show you where your work appears.

Marenet Jordaan, journalism lecturer at Stellenbosch University, says that a search for your work is easy enough, but dealing with the findings is the tricky part.

“One can probably Google yourself often to see where your work ends up. But what will you do when you find out? Most journalists will not have the time, energy or resources to take a case of plagiarism further.”

Often, plagiarism can be accidental, due to incorrectly citing sources. Cobus Jooste, lecturer of intellectual property and information technology law at Stellenbosch University, says that there are numerous free plagiarism-checking tools available online for anyone wanting to check their work.

“[They are] used primarily by those who wish to protect the integrity of the related institution or publication and/or ensure the status of their work. The use of such tools is nothing new, and is no longer limited to top-tier academic institutions,” Jooste says.

“For individuals, a number of reference and online plagiarism detection tools are available such as WriteCheck, Viper, DupliChecker and CopyLeaks. Some are available for free, while others require a subscription.”

Plagiarism vs intellectual property rights infringement

In order to deal with duplicated content, it is necessary to understand the difference between plagiarism and intellectual property theft. Jooste explains that intellectual property refers to the variety of property rights that may arise from an expression of intellectual endeavour. This means that it is intangible, making it impossible to steal – but possible to infringe on the rights around it.

“It is impossible to deprive the owner of their possession of intellectual property – intellectual property theft does not exist.”

He tells media update that plagiarism, on the other hand, is not law, but more of an ethical issue.

“[Plagiarism] is an ethical, professional and/or moral transgression that has its basis in…an applicable code of conduct…or publication policy…applicable to the relevant workplace, situation or environment.”

My work has been plagiarised – now what?

MD of SAFACT, Jacques Allers, says that once you have found your content duplicated online, there are a few ways to move forwards.

“Should a copyright infringement occur, [one can] claim for damages [and/or] obtain an interdict to prevent further distribution.”

He says that the problem with this, is that a claim for damages requires both “wrongfulness and fault”, which can be difficult to prove.

The first step should always be to ask the person or entity who has copied reproduced work to remove it, says Mike Du Toit, attorney and trademark practitioner.

“If they refuse, you can of course take the legal route, but often websites have policies that provide for the use of intellectual property of third parties. You can lodge a complaint with the website and if you can prove your copyright, the website operator will remove the infringing material.”

“If your content appears on another site without the site mentioning the source and author, they would be infringing on your work,” says Du Toit.

What the South African Press Code says

The South African Press Code’s only reference to the issue of plagiarised content is point 1.13, which states, “Journalists shall not plagiarise”. Jordaan tells media update that, although this speaks to the core pillars of journalism, defining plagiarism is the tricky part.

“Some of the core principals of journalism are accuracy, honesty and transparency. If the public cannot trust what you write and how you have gathered your information, you will lose all credibility,” says Jordaan.

“I think the Press Code assumes that all journalists understand what plagiarism means [and] this is not always the case. Younger journalists have been trained and grew up in an era of aggregation and social media. They might not always understand where the boundaries of originality lie.”

Journalism head of department at Stellenbosch University, Lizette Rabe echoes this sentiment, stating that credibility is key to a career in journalism, and being caught plagiarising can permanently damage a journalist’s career.

“Professional journalists should know what [plagiarism] means and what the implications are. If a journalist has lost his/her credibility, no money on earth can buy it back … It is a moral matter, more than a criminal justice matter. Of course, the person whose work has been plagiarised can begin a legal procedure against the plagiarist, but the plagiarist has already lost everything that is of essence for [their] future career.”

Jordaan says that a more specific definition of plagiarism is required in order to prevent it. If it is better defined, then it can be better understood and spotted more easily.

“Perhaps there should be a better explanation of how journalists should handle information that originates from online and social media sources. The social media policy and ethical code of Mail&Guardian could perhaps provide some direction in this regard.”

Rabe says that dealing with online plagiarism is of paramount importance.

“The onus is on the journalist, as a professional person, to ensure that [their] facts are not only correct, but that [they] did not, by mistake, use someone’s phrasing without attributing it to that person.”

Preventing online plagiarism

Plagiarism is such a huge issue within journalism because it speaks to credibility, says Rabe, adding that credibility is a measure of quality within news.

“If a journalist plagiarises, it means [they] steal someone else’s words or thoughts, making them a criminal. If the public cannot trust [journalists] with providing their own thoughts, then it means that nothing can be trusted – definitely not the information.”

Du Toit says that, realistically, you cannot prevent plagiarism.

“You can add a copyright notice alert to the reader that the content of an article is protected in terms of the Copyright Act, but short of building in some kind of mechanism into the webpages that makes it impossible to cut and paste, it is very difficult.”

Smaller sites which plagiarise content regularly generally pick up content from the larger, more reputable publications. Jordaan says that keeping track of where your content is duplicated online is virtually impossible.

“Social media also helps to distribute content widely. Often the original author’s contributions get lost.”

Anti-plagiarism education

The first step to thwarting plagiarism is to start with the youth. Rabe tells media update that South African universities are working to highlight the seriousness of using plagiarised content.

“Our students sign a form at the beginning of the year that they understand what plagiarism is, and if they are caught out, they are expelled. Plagiarism is an unforgivable sin. Between a journalist and a disaster stand two words: According to. Always attribute a source.”

Jooste says that plagiarism is being dealt with from a school level, through university and into the working world.

“An increasing number of schools have implemented the writing service, Grammarly, to aid students in grammar and spelling, and [it] includes a plagiarism detection component.”

University plagiarism checkers, such as the popular TurnItIn, are aimed at helping students learn to cite correctly and to attribute where necessary. However, Jordaan says that although they are helpful tools, they are not without fault.

“Not everyone understands where the boundaries of plagiarism lie, so TurnItIn is not without its faults. It relies on information which has already been used online. So any sources that are not available online will not be picked up. A lecturer (or editor) cannot be expected to know everything that has ever been written about a subject. So while these tools definitely help, they are not fail-safe.”

Want to stay up to date with the latest media news? Subscribe to our newsletter.

Interested in ensuring quality journalism through avoiding fake news? Read our article, How to avoid circular reporting and spreading fake news.