iThenticate Blog

Chris Anderson’s new book “Makers” may not have been released yet, but some are already raising accusations that the book contained, at least at one point, plagiarized content.

Written by Beth Calvano

What is the best point to check for plagiarism within a journal's editorial workflow? Sarah McCormack, editorial manager at the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), spoke with us about the types of modifications they have tested in their editorial workflow (to check submitted articles) before settling on the most logical and successful point.

Though the Jonah Lehrer scandal may be winding down and drifting out of the public eye, the matter is far from over for the editors and publishers at the various publications he was employed at.

How serious are the Lehrer and Zakaria plagiarism cases? Listen to this lively discussion between Jason Chu at Turnitin and Jonathan Bailey at Plagiarism Today for observations of both journalists, thoughts on their futures, and ways journalists can best avoid plagiarism.

In his book, "Imagine," Jonah Lehrer offers up the anecdote of how Dan Wieden--charged with coming up with a Nike campaign ad--coined the phrase "Just Do It" after recalling the last words of convicted murderer Gary Gilmore ("Let's do it").  The recent charges brought up against Lehrer around his fabrication of Dylan comments begs the question of Lehrer, "Why Do It?" 

Once it’s published, it’s permanent. This statement was made back in 2008 in a Columbia Journalism Review piece titled “Scrubbing Away their Sins” and it still holds true today. Jack Shafer referred to the same thing in his recent Reuters article on the NPR decision to remove Ahmad Shafi’s article from their website after duplicate content was discovered via a plagiarism check by one of their readers.

Plagiarism is described in NPR’s writer policies as the “unforgivable sin” of journalism, but their reaction to an instance of plagiarism from one of their own interns this past week shows that nothing in the media is ever black and white. Ahmad Shafi, an intern who up until a few months ago was serving on the Kabul bureau for NPR as a fixer and translator, copied, pasted, and only slightly modified sixty-eight words from a story written in 2001 by Jason Burke- a clear case of plagiarism.