Hardly
a week seems to go by but one of those folks who calls himself/herself a
journalist is busted for either “creative harvesting”, i.e.
plagiarism, or engaging of the writing of fiction under the guise of
journalism. The latest is a case involving Technology Review.
According to Boston.com and AP:
“Review raises doubts about reporter's accuracy
By Ken Maguire, Associated Press Writer | April 21, 2005
“…Technology Review,
which is affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, last month
retracted two Delio stories about the dismissal of Carly Fiorina as chief
executive of Hewlett-Packard Co. after officials told Pontin they couldn't
identify a Delio source.
The magazine pulled all 10 of Delio's articles from its Web site — including
the two that were retracted — and hired Susan Rasky, a journalism instructor
at the University of California, Berkeley, to investigate their
accuracy.”
Here at the IAJ, we think this removal is, at best, unprincipled and
unprofessional on the part of the magazine. At worst, it is rewriting history. Either way, the action compounds
any errors the author is alleged to have made. Librarians have wrestled
with these digital issues for almost 20 years now. The consensus seems to be that, no, you don’t remove the
offending documents, but you can/should flag the stories with a prominent note
explaining the evolution of the case and offering, essentially, a “Reader
Beware” notice. It wouldn’t hurt either
if publications developed something akin to the “ethical guidelines” policies
in place in many publications that would explain to readers that, “No, we do
not alter the historic record.”
That said, check out J's
Scratchpad and the entries for “Journalism
Errors.” Jessica Baumgart, Information Resources Specialist in
Harvard University's Office of News and Public Affairs, is taking the time to
track these sorry events.
