Over the weekend you might have seen the hashtag #NMGUnderSiege and just for a moment feared that terror was looming again in Kenya. You quickly try and switch on the TV to see if the case is being shown on your favorite station. Some of you might even have tuned in to the station under siege. Yes, that’s right. Station. But you can’t find the news anywhere on your local TV station.
Well in actuality the siege was happening at the media power house that is Nation Media Group (NMG). Don’t get me wrong, No armed gunmen or terrorists ran into the Nation Center, neither was there a suicidal maniac taking people hostage, this battle was on a front much more ethical than physical. It was a fight against copyright infringement.
Controversial Journalist Njoki Chege was on the forefront of a Plagiarism Case with an article she had posted on the Saturday Nation of July 16, 2016. The article attached below is claimed to have originally been posted by Sylvia Anne Hewlett an editor for the Harvard Business Review in her article ”The Real Benefit of Having a sponsor”
Caption: Njoki Chege’s article published on the Saturday Nation of July 16, 2016
The article by Anne Hewlett was dated January 26, 2011 and was a piece published way before Njoki Chege’s article as can be seen on the image below or on the article itself.
Caption: Anne Hewlett’s article published on the Harvard Business Review dated January 26, 2011
While plagiarism (the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.) is considered a mortal sin for creatives, it’s even hotter soup for editors.
We even managed to get a post from Nation media itself saying that plagiarism is ”an unforgivable sin” and ”Nation Media Group (NMG) has zero tolerance for plagiarism”.
Caption: Nation Media’s stand on plagiarism.
While plagiarism (the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.) is considered a mortal sin for creatives, it’s even hotter soup for editors.
Our only say in this is that if your detect your work has been plagiarized you can report to Google, and this article by plagiarismchecker.com will help you out. (See how we credited them for their work, that’s how you should do it)
Our opinion however is that respect to intellectual property is paramount, if you borrow one’s work,do the honorable thing and credit them for the work.
