I AM submitting this letter to the four dailies because an important principle of journalism is involved. I expect the offending newspaper, the Stabroek News, to publish my explanation. If the newspaper does not, I will expect to see the logical reaction from other organisations and the Guyana Press Association.

With the photograph of the editor-in-chief (eic) on a Stabroek News Meta (facebook) posting, here is what was written about me: “Plagiarism of SN material by Kaieteur News …continues unabated….Freddie Kissoon published a section of a court story without attribution….”

This is not true. It is deliberately misleading. The eic of SN does not have an academic background, so he would not be familiar with the origin and meaning of plagiarism. The term came from academia. It denotes the publication of any form of material that was not acknowledged as belonging to others with the intention of the person to make it appear that it originated from him/her.

Here is a hypothetical example of plagiarism. A columnist writing about the Barbados Prime Minister wrote: “Her radiant smile evokes the calm waves of the beautiful Caribbean sea.” If those very words were published by another columnist, named John Jones, then the columnist should have stated that those words came from John Jones.

In writing about the court case I was unambiguous in stating my source. I said, “as reported in the press.” The eic of SN has been around a long time in journalism to know that the words, “as reported in the press” has been standard practice in global journalism long, long ago. Today the word, “media” is substituted for “press.”

Not frequently, but almost daily, we see on television and read in the newspapers, famous sporting personalities and global figures being quoted by editors, journalists, columnists and anchors, with the words, “has been quoted as saying.” Let me offer another hypothetical example.

“Chris Gayle told a radio station he is retiring.” It doesn’t say which radio station, but it stated that Gayle spoke publicly. Here is another example we find almost daily around the world: “Jane Smith is quoted as saying that she will no longer visit Australia.” Now that could have come from Smith friend’s Facebook page, a newspaper or a radio station or a television interview.

The media is under no obligation to state where a quote came from, once it is acknowledged that the person spoke or wrote what is quoted. It is important to note that once the television station, the radio station and the newspaper published the fact that the person’s words are in the media, then that is not plagiarism. Plagiarism is an entirely different affair.

I have spent 43 years in journalism and I know at an absolute level that court cases are mentioned by editors and columnists which they say, “as reported in the press.” I will continue to do so. It is a choice of mine if I want to say where I got the material from. In court cases, I don’t think that is necessary simply because that is the nature of court cases.

In politics, business, governmental affairs, etc, the yardstick is different. Because of the nature of the subject, it is an option if the newspaper wants to state the source of the remark. If the President tells the Department of Public Information (DPI) that there will be a bridge linking Suriname and Guyana, that announcement is news and the newspaper does not have to state that the President spoke to DPI.

I don’t know if SN feels it will score points by picking on me, but countless times I read where SN made news stories that originated from the mouths of ministers or the DPI and did not state they came from the DPI. I end in the hope that journalistic requirements are adhered to and SN published my response here.

Yours sincerely,
Frederick Kissoon