I studiously avoid receiving any news from television broadcasts or radio shows, but in my limited experience, the plagiarism discussed by Linda Thomas is a long-standing issue. Of course, some print journalists routinely steal from blogs as well.
A newspaper reporter would be fired or suspended for something TV and radio reporters do quite often.
Print journalists consider it plagiarism. Broadcasters call it a “rewrite.”
Here’s how it works in nearly every news market in the country. Print reporters do research and interviews for a story that ends up being about 800 words or so. Broadcasters rewrite and condense the paper’s story to around 50 words – sometimes adding their own audio or video – then present it as their own.
[Click to continue reading Broadcast plagiarism]
Too much of broadcast journalism reporting directly lifts from print media: and especially now when so much of print media is in danger of vanishing, wonder what would happen if trends continue like this. If the print media vanishes, how will the lazy broadcasters survive?