Plagiarism

I've been sent the following question by one of my blog subscribers, one that is difficult to answer as it depends on the context, but I'll give it a go:

"Suppose you are writing an article for a destination and for whatever reason (illness, bad weather during trip which stopped you from doing enough dives etc), you didn't get enough information during the trip.

How much can you refer to dive guide books, websites etc? At which point does the article become a complete fake?

For me this is one of those questions that I was always afraid to ask. I suspect that someone might answer this like "how long is a piece of string" but I am sure you can come up with a more helpful reply which will benefit all those that read your blog.

Let me know - but please treat this as an anonymous suggestion. I don't want anyone thinking that my articles are plagiarised rubbish!"

The answer to this question? Well, it depends (how long is a piece of string!): on the magazine's standards; their preferred writing style and importantly, your own ethical stance.

I've been in the situation where I've had little or no material a few times:

Illness

On an assignment to Vancouver island in 2000 I flew over, picked up a hire car, drove to the port, got the ferry, drove up the coast to the dive centre, got in about 2300hrs (0700 my time) and then got up early to go diving. This relentless itinerary continued for just under two weeks until I got sick. I'm convinced the reasons for the ear infection, nausea and physical sickness was a lack of rest, so since then I've always taken breaks. My health is more important than any assignment.

I wrote two articles from that trip, one for Sport Diver magazine and one for DIVER. The one I did for DIVER (click on the pictures for the first couple of pages) was conducted with a body full of drugs that was screaming to lie down. I remember finishing the interview / tour of the ship and going back to my hotel to sleep for what must have been 24 hours.

Bad Weather

You can't cater for inclement weather, but when it happens I'll try and write it in by covering alternative activities to add to the diving 'story.' However, sometimes the weather can put a complete end to an assignment. In 1999 I went to the Isle of Man to cover its diving and had a great four days exploring above water activities as a result of constant poor diving conditions. The answer for IOM Tourism was to fly me back out a month later, this time the conditions were perfect and I bagged the article.

I've already mentioned in a previous post the disastrous trip I took to Australia to cover the kelp forests of Tasmania. Australia Tourism sent me out when the kelp was 'shedding its leaves' and the plankton was blooming - the near zero visibility resulted in just two dives and no material for the article.

The solution? I told Australia Tourism there would be no article. Their representative was understandably miffed and suggested I write it anyway using other people's photographs, guidebooks and verbal descriptions from the dive centres. When I told them there's no way I would ever do this they went on to suggest I return but time was an issue, I already had other assignments in my diary.

I made sure I discussed the circumstances with my editor on my return as the magazine's reputation and brand could have suffered if he had not been pre-warned. Fortunately the PR company took it on the chin, after all, it was their mistake (since then have always done my homework and set the PR company the pre-assignment task of checking conditions with the dive operators).

I believe the use of other people's material to put together articles is still widespread, although in niche journalism it is highly unlikely to get challenged. I am also aware of some publications that are economical with the truth when they say their writer, "checks out the diving in..." What they don't say is that it was all 'checked out' from a desk top.

I draw the line at pulling together facts from tourism authority's websites or their press packs - that's why they exist. If I use any other form of quote or source I always cite it.

Next time you read an article ask yourself the following question: Could I have put this together from sources available on the Internet? And then question whether the writer ever left their office to put together what is invariably an advertorial type piece.

Keep writing...

Brendan