
Blog
The powerful comms combo between strategy and creativity
As communications professionals, our work requires both strategic thinking and creativity in a world where so many have something to say. ...Read more
Plagiarism in the communications industry is an extremely dirty word, but unfortunately, it is not uncommon. The recent news of Donald Trump's wife, Melania Trump, brought this home when Twitter users were quick to sniff out plagiarism in her recent convention speech.
Unfortunately for Melania, the person who wrote her speech lifted lines and phrases directly from Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The writer of the speech, Meredith McIver, eventually apologised and offered to hand in her resignation – but the reputation damage to the Trump campaign had already been done.
As communication specialists, our role is to build and protect reputations. Plagiarism undoes all the great work you've achieved and can knock you back even further from where you started.
Indeed, the repercussions of plagiarism can even go beyond reputational damage. Copyright laws are crystal clear and infringement can be deemed a criminal offense – it is intellectual property theft. There have even been cases of prison sentences.
Fortunately, there is more plagiarism detection software on the market these days, making it easy to find plagiarists. Sites like www.copyscape.com, for example, scan your website content and flag content that has been duplicated elsewhere on the web.
Granted, we all lead extremely busy lives and lifting other people's words is faster – but don't be tempted! As communications leaders, it’s vital that we don't let other team members or partners be enticed by the quick win. Ignorance is not an excuse. Every organisation needs to be mindful and make it clear to all employees that plagiarism checks take place on all written material.
All exam essays are fed through sophisticated plagiarism checks today. If students fail the checks, they are given a warning, excluded temporarily from a course or even banned from the University completely. Businesses needs to wise up to the risks and take an equally ruthless attitude towards plagiarism. For example, is plagiarism covered in any HR policies? Don’t assume employees understand the severe consequences of plagiarising someone’s work.
We’ve just touched on plagiarising people’s words and images – but stealing ideas is also a big no no. The Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of plagiarism is: The practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own. Even taking an idea from one agency and asking another to execute it can be considered plagiarism and land you in hot water. The agency owns the IP for creative ideas put forward and that should clearly be stated in proposals.
So have faith in your own ideas and don’t be a trump chump – plagiarism is lazy, unoriginal and a sign of having no faith in your own work and no respect for ethical conduct. You’re better than that!
-
Image courtesy of McLevn: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chelsea-e-levin/
As communications professionals, our work requires both strategic thinking and creativity in a world where so many have something to say. ...Read more
With SEO being the bread and butter for comms professionals, how much power do search engines wield to control how we think about products? ...Read more
Brands are facing reputational challenges over greenwashing accusations, but Patagonia has remained authentic through a simple, but definitive statement. ...Read more
We operate in London, Paris and Munich, and have a network of like-minded partners across the globe.
Get in touchReceive thought pieces from our leadership team, views on the news, tool of the month and light relief for comms folk
You can unsubscribe at any time, please read our privacy policy for more information