Should bloggers be held to the same code of ethics as professional journalists?

by Danielle Zarcaro

Created on: July 10, 2009

Plagiarism in any form is unethical. Even if the blogger is writing about butterflies, he or she should show where they got the information from. Everyone gets their ideas from somewhere whether they like to admit it or not. We are influenced by the world around us. Most of the time these citations are assumed - that the writer is inspired by things that happened in his or her life. Sometimes good writers will work in where they got that information from without stopping the flow of the piece. But when ideas are more concrete, when they are taken directly from other sources - or even if those sources are found after to enhance the pieces.

Writers borrow all the time. Authors, poets, scholars. Everything is taken from somewhere and adapted to become something original to that writer. But it should always be cited. Other pieces should always be cited. I have seen review websites where people copy from one source and paste it as their own. In order to enhance their credibility, they should always cite. That way when an idea really is his or hers, the reader doesn't question the writing.

Crediting another author doesn't make you seem dumb, it makes you seem well educated enough to know to site something. Each website that hosts bloggers should have a full-time staff of fact-checkers because we can't trust people to do their own work anymore. There should be a set plagiarism code for the internet just as there is for other types of written work. There can be different kinds of ways to cite things just as there are for books (MLA, APA, AP, etc), though a universal one would make it easier for everyone. Taking something and making it your own is stealing. I'm not saying each writer needs to charge to have their stuff used. Usually all it takes is a short e-mail or phone call to verify that you can use it - most writers will be happy you respect them enough to use them and will be happy for the publicity. Other writers won't even care if you contact them or not, as long as you credit them with their ideas.

It's important that any type of writer upholds the rules of writing - and that they all know plagiarism is bad. That some people don't see the wrongs in copying and pasting work is incredible. Not only do some people take others' work and pass it off as their own, but they benefit from it. Many sites pay people to review products and such, and to make money off of someone else's work is just wrong - code of ethics aside, what about a human conscience?

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