Hey j-schools, teach before you unleash

Wednesday, 11 April 2007, 09:11

Some journalism schools need to do a better job teaching their students about blog etiquette and copyright law before unleashing them on the blogosphere on a university server.

Over on a blog at UKjournalism.co.uk, the University of Central Lancashire journalism department’s server, someone who I can only presume is a journalism student recently copied and pasted a huge proportion of a story I wrote for Press Gazette, without providing so much as a link.

If this were some anonymous blog hosted on Blogspot, this would be par for the course, and I wouldn’t be complaining. But the blog in question is hosted by a journalism school’s server and presumably authored by someone who is in training to become a media professional. This student presumably has already had at least some training in basic media law.

I would have written this in a private e-mail, but sadly the blog in question provided no details about how to get in touch privately.

In the big scheme of things, this mild annoyance isn’t a big deal — but it’s part of a bigger problem. Guardian tech correspondent and blogger Bobbie Johnson was recently on the receiving end of some rude, ill-informed and unconstructive criticism launched by American journalism students on blogs written as part of a j-school assignment.

That encounter showed that some students fail to distinguish between blogs published in a professional capacity and the sort of semi-private stuff they do everyday on MySpace to communicate with their friends.

Journalism schools need to teach their students that blogs are internet publications like any other. They are public on the internet and can be read by anyone in the world with an internet connection. They are subject to the same media law as any other publication, including libel and fair dealing in copyright.

Moreover, blogs exist as part of the blogosphere, a global subculture with emergent informal social norms and etiquette. Journalists, journalism educators and journalism students need to understand these laws and informal norms before hitting publish.

Just providing a blog and giving insufficient guidance does journalism students no favours. [See clarification below.]

Professional journalists need to demonstrate a greater mastery of these technologies than the average blogger. If journalism students want to mess around on the ‘net, they can always do so on their own time on Blogger or MySpace.

Later: Adam Tinworth responds with a related worry:

[T]he first hurdle I have to get over with teaching journalists to blog is getting over the “online diary/rant” stereotype and getting them to see it as another publishing medium.

There are also some great journo-student bloggers out there. At UCLAN, Nigel (whose last name I don’t know) is my current favourite. He offers some snark in response to this:

The piece puts a good light on the Journalism department as it tells that three graduates from last year have successfully completed their training at the Sun.

I take it you’re not looking for a job at News Group then, Nigel?

Update: Andy points out in the comments that my post seems to suggest that UCLAN is not providing sufficient guidance to its blogging students, and that this is unfair.

He’s right: I can’t infer that from one individual’s action and that I therefore withdraw any suggestion that this is the case at UCLAN.

In the abstract, though, I stand by the post: Journalism students are professionals-in-training, and should publish online accordingly and expect to be held to account. UCLAN bore the brunt of this post because the student wasn’t clearly identified on the post in question. Perhaps the quick answer is to demand real-name posting on j-school blogs. Putting your real name out there has an amazing way of focusing the mind of professionalism.

Entry Filed under: Announcements, Blogs, Journalism, Journalism Education, University of Central Lancashire

34 Comments Add some more of your own

1. Robin Hamman | 11 April 2007 at 0945

It’s not just students who do this - I once had a post taken almost verbatim (although there was a link) by the Washington Post.

It was on a page that updates to display only the most current entry so I can’t see it there now but I remember feeling a little bit puzzled, if not troubled, when it happened.

A few lines or paragraphs quoted along with a link would have been the appropriate way to do it.
2. Thoughts of Nigel&hellip | 11 April 2007 at 1013

They are subject to the same media law as any other publication, including libel and fair dealing in copyright.” I suppose that this comes back to the debate about regulation of the blogsphere and whether there should be some code of conduct.
3. One Man & His Blog&hellip | 11 April 2007 at 1034

has some good advice for journalism schools:
4. One Man & His Blog&hellip | 11 April 2007 at 1034

has some good advice for journalism schools:
5. Francois Nel | 11 April 2007 at 1149

Your post is a reminder that, as with any community, the education and socialisation of members and would-be members is likely to be most succesful when it’s considered a collective responsibility. Thanks for doing your bit to help us here at UCLan tackle the challenge of educating tomorrow’s journalists. I’ve little doubt that this post - and the important points you raise - will be much-discussed when my colleagues and the students return from the Spring break.
6. Andy | 11 April 2007 at 1207

As the person who put the blogs at ukjournalism in place, this kind of thing fills me with dread. You know you are going to have one of those days when this is the first thing that comes across your desk.

Let me know the name of the blog Martin, and I will remove the post ASAP.

As Robin points out, it isn’t just students who do this kind of thing. The issue of copying of work is a perennial problem. The positive the web brings is that it’s traceable, findable and ultimately easily removed. Journalists (training or otherwise) should know better, but it seems that in all parts of the industry they don’t That doesn’t excuse the behaviour of the student though and I appreciate your frustration.

To suggest that we give individual blogs and no guidance is also unfair. We set a great deal of store in professional practice in the department and students do know better. So whilst I accept that it’s the responsibility of j-schools to educate students in this stuff you can never educate against individual action. What we can do is seek to solve the problem and educate the individual to the error they made. As Francois says, it all helps go to educating the community.

For educators, it’s an increasingly difficult balancing act – the ability to experience this stuff Vs. the reality of the mistakes they make. The ongoing debate about teaching students real world skills, giving them the experience of all this new technology just sets that in an often difficult context.
7. Martin | 11 April 2007 at 1323

Andy,

Sorry about causing you some dread, that wasn’t my intention.

I’d rather not name the student, though. I don’t want to cause any embarrassment or other problems for anyone.

I also rather you didn’t take anything down, because the post actually makes some useful points and shows that the student in question is thinking about the implications of the issue raised in the article for their future career.
8. Martin | 11 April 2007 at 1351

My Press Gazette colleague Patrick Smith has just made a very important point: This has only happened because UCLAN is sticking its neck out by teaching blogging as part of its journalism curriculum.

There is no textbook that will teach students any of this, and people like Andy Dickinson are to be commended for being on the cutting edge of journalism education.

UCLAN should be commended for its vision in this area, and I hope nobody suggests that the additional risks such innovation brings with it should be a reason to be more conservative with student blogs.
9. Graham | 11 April 2007 at 1423

“That encounter showed that some students fail to distinguish between blogs published in a professional capacity and the sort of semi-private stuff they do everyday on MySpace”

And this and Bobbie’s experience is an object lesson for lecturers and students alike. There are two points here as you allude to in the comments Martin.

Firstly, there is no handbook for teaching blogging to journalism students. The only way to learn, as with journalism really, is to do. Situations like this are bound to occur. The fact that more experienced people like yourself are pointing out issues for the students can only be a good thing all round especially if incorporated and discussed back in the seminar room.

Apart from a few notable exceptions I would guess that the majority of journalism lecturers in the UK probably don’t know much about blogs and how the whole social net thing meshes together and what that means for publishing. This will obviously have an impact on the quality of teaching.

This was most evidently the case with the Emerson/Johnson brouhaha. BTW - Did the Emerson lecturer ever respond to that?
10. Andy | 11 April 2007 at 1436

Shucks, now I’m blushing.

Sometimes the “cutting edge of journalism education” feels more like the seat of your pants.

Giving students the chance to experience the web as a proffesional arena is a gamble, especially when you see how some of them behave in that myspace enironment.

But Graham (and Ferancois) is spot on. The ability to have an inclusive - student and pro - experience like this vital and what makes the web so exciting.

I think we can all feel a lot more positive about the way we develop if this how we go about developing.
11. Andy | 11 April 2007 at 1438

But less positive about my use of english

“…way we develop if this how we go about developing”

What am I talking about
12. Ian Delaney | 11 April 2007 at 1556

Excellent work from Andy, above.

Moderation (on social sites) and Subbing (for all the rest of us) remain in desperate need.
13. co.mments - Recently adde&hellip | 11 April 2007 at 1616

Hey j-schools, teach before you unleash 11 April 2007, 09:11 Some journalism schools need to do a better job teaching their students about blog etiquette and copyright law before unleashing them on the blogosphere on a university server. Over on a blog at UKjournalism.co.uk, the University
14. Hack Attack » Blog &hellip | 11 April 2007 at 1704

[...] UCLan blogger has been causing havok by the looks of things. Martin Stabe, a Press Gazette blogger, writes in his blog that: someone who I can only presume is a journalism student recently copied and pasted a huge [...]
15. Online Monkey » Blo&hellip | 11 April 2007 at 1749

[...] After the last post on The Daily Telegraph’s newsroom, it seems that Online Monkey has got into a little hot water. [...]
16. Megite Technology News: W&hellip | 11 April 2007 at 1824

[...] : Lego’s Solar-Powered Helicopter Teaches Kids About Energy Conservation 51. Hey j-schools, teach before you unleash 8 hours ago permalink Martin / Martin Stabe Some journalism schools need to do a [...]
17. Ian Baker | 12 April 2007 at 0225

As a student of UCLan and involved in the Student Union’s Journalism Department I feel disappointed for the need to bring this issue into the public sphere. The tone of this posting is rather insulting to both students and lecturers at UCLan. We do not all live in a Myspace world, indeed some of us are already professionals or semi-professionals.

Surely a better way of dealing with this isolated incident would have been to have contacted the university directly, if you were unable to identify the author? It doesn’t take much to have drafted an email or to have used the old fashioned method of picking up a telephone.

I note the author has already apologised to you directly. I hope their confidence has not been affected by a matter which could quite easily have been dealt with in a less public manner.

Ian Baker
Vice-chairman
UCLan Journalism Society
http://www.uclanjoso.co.uk
18. Martin | 12 April 2007 at 0620

Ian,

Have you actually read my post?

I made it clear in my clarification that I do not wish to suggest that everyone at UCLAN is responsible for this, even though the original tone of the post might have suggested that. I was always careful to stress that I am complaining about some specific students. I also mentioned one UCLAN student blogger whose work I really like. There are many other great student-journalists who blog.

However, as discussed in the post, this is not an isolated incident. There have been other cases of journalism students displaying poor blogging and professional practice at other universities. Another working journalist expressed similar experiences. There is clearly a broader issue to be discussed here.

I must stress, as I have elsewhere, that I do not think this was a case of deliberate plagiarism. As Robin Hamman notes above, far more more serious cases have occurred at blogs run by paid professionals.

Second, contrary to your assertion, the author of the post in question has not been in touch with me to apologise. The post by Monkey is not the one to which I was referring.

Third, as I explained in the post, I would have responded less publicly if that option had been available. The whole point of this post (and indeed your and university lectuers’ criticism of it) is that bloggers should be personally responsible for their actions. The university has done nothing wrong, and as I explained in my clarification, is actually to be commended for providing you with an excellent learning experience. Why should I involve them?

I am astonished by your call for a “less public” solution. The whole point of the way blogging is changing journalism is that journalists need to understand that their readers, using blogs, will hold them to account in a much more public manner than was previously possible. If you are going to blog publically, you need to be ready to accept public criticism.

As it happens, I e-mailed my post to a lecturer at the university immediatly after posting it in order to give an opportunity to reply.
19. Graham | 12 April 2007 at 0800

Very interesting follow up here.

“If you are going to blog publically, you need to be ready to accept public criticism.”

This is the problem. I think all journalists and definitely wannabes have to grasp this as a fundamental given regardless of where they publish.

However, in the wider blogosphere - even with some very experienced and popular bloggers - the same problem occurs. See this discussion. Find the comments by the very popular blogger Elise,

http://www.noodlepie.com/2007/02/what_are_the_wo.html

For many bloggers, there is a fundamental clash of what is and is not allowed to be criticised. The old school, pre-blog approach, which I hold to, is if it’s in the pulic domain, it’s fair game. The thing is the public domain is so much bigger now by a factor of a gazillion and so many people are putting themselves into it possibly without really thinking of the possible consequences. Journalism students, more than any group I can think of, must understand this.

One slightly tangential thought here. One news story that is just begging to happen - but give it another 5 or 10 years or so -

“Teen sues parents over baby blog”

I wonder how many kids will resent their parents blogging their lives for them?
20. Nigel Barlow | 12 April 2007 at 0820

Martin,

I think that your comments are extremely valid on this subject.
Surely any journalist or budding journalist should sign up to the unwritten code that acknowledges any sources of material whether this is in a blog or printed material.
As a student at UCLAN,I can assure you that best practice is drummed into us all the timeand I totally take on what Andy Dickinson is saying in his comments.This,I am sure was an isolated incident as far as UCLAN is concerned but there is a wider issue to be addressed in the blogosphere.Quite how we do that I am unsure
21. Online Monkey » Blo&hellip | 12 April 2007 at 1119

[...] about are my fellow students and myself, the UKJournalism.co.uk bloggers. And the trip up is the recent problem with sources that seems to have ’slightly’ erupted. One of us bloggers made a [...]
22. Ed Walker | 12 April 2007 at 1527

I’m pretty sure whoever committed the terrible act will be forced to read these comments and reflect on what they did.

As a student at UCLan myself, one of the best bits we’ve done this year was setting up a blog for the third year online journalists. http://www.ukjournalism.co.uk/baonline - it’s been a great resource and way to reflect on our course.

It’s a shame that someone from UCLan hasn’t quite grasped the blogging ethic, but they are only a first/second year and believe me you don’t know much in the third year compared with the real world, let alone in the first or second year.

I’m sure they will learn from their mistake.
23. pluto-online editor’&hellip | 12 April 2007 at 1542

[...] old Martin Stabe’s been having a bit of a stew about a UCLan journalism student who committed the cardinal sin of [...]
24. Louise Steggals | 12 April 2007 at 1633

Oi Ed. “Only a first/second year?”

I doubt it was intended to sound as patronising as it does but I like to think that some of us baby journalists do have our heads screwed on (as has been indicated by many of the other comments)

Plus given how much the subject of plagarism gets hammered home every time we get an assignment is it too much to expect just a teeny-tiny spark of common sense?

Still, it certainly is a learning curve for all involved and Martin has made some good points which he may have noticed have been implemented, such as the full identification and ability to email blog authors on the ukjournalism site.

And even though our law exams finish at the end of May, I don’t think I shall be putting my copy of McNae away just yet.
25. Blogs - can’t live &hellip | 12 April 2007 at 1731

[...] day started with an email from Martin Stabe giving me the heads up on a something he posted about some of his work appearing uncredited on a blog out of the department I work [...]
26. Ed Walker | 12 April 2007 at 2054

Bloody McNae… it becomes the bane of your life. We found a mistake in it the other day.

It’s good to see the blogs now have an identification on them so that it can be seen who is writing what, and a link to the author’s email address.
27. Martin | 12 April 2007 at 2130

I notice that the blogger who irked me initially has now amended that post. Thanks.
28. All kicking off at UCLan &hellip | 13 April 2007 at 0005

[...] Martin’s post on the matter can be found here. The comments are well worth reading. Most defend the Journalism School at UCLan — rightly so, it’s brilliant from what I’ve heard — and some rightly slate the guilty student/blogger. [...]
29. Matt's online forum blog &hellip | 13 April 2007 at 2000

[...] this thread and delete all posts about plagiarism and investigate the matter myself. Read this: http://www.martinstabe.com/blog/2007…e-you-unleash/ Thread Reopened but articles will not be restored. You can edit the post and put other stuff there [...]
30. mark duckworth | 17 April 2007 at 1030

This seems like an honest mistake and it seems that it has been delt with accordingly,hopefully the student still has the confidence to keep wrting and long live UCLAN
31. Martin | 18 April 2007 at 1015

Mark,

I am in complete agreement with your comment. It was an honest, (if unacceptable) mistake, but it was dealt with brilliantly.

I seriously hope I haven’t put anyone off blogging, and that the university doesn’t restrict its students’ blogging as a result.
32. pluto-online editor’&hellip | 15 May 2007 at 2119

[...] becomes part of something bigger. An example is when the UCLan student unfortunately nicked some of Martin Stabe’s work and put it on their blog, and subsequently it unraveled across the [...]
33. pharmacie » BBC s b&hellip | 15 May 2007 at 2145

[...] becomes part of something bigger. An example is when the UCLan student unfortunately nicked some of Martin Stabe s work and put it on their blog, and subsequently it unraveled across the [...]
34. pharmacie » Genomic&hellip | 15 May 2007 at 2226

[...] becomes part of something bigger. An example is when the UCLan student unfortunately nicked some of Martin Stabe s work and put it on their blog, and subsequently it unraveled across the [...]

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