The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) has slammed the Daily Mail for breaching journalism ethics after it republished other journalists' work without attribution.
The comments follow claims from journalist Ginger Gorman after the Daily Mail plagiarised her story about internet trolls.
MEAA media director Katelin McInerney tells AdNews the republishing of journalism without citing the original source goes against the MEAA Journalist Code of Ethics, which specifically states in clause 10: “Do not plagiarise”.
“Increasingly, in the era of digital media, news stories are being lifted, appropriated and republished as if they are original news stories, whereas much of their content has been clearly plagiarised,” McInerney says.
“Not only is such a practice not journalism, it is also denying many freelance journalists from an important source of income.”
Earlier this week, Gorman called out the Daily Mail for pulling parts of her story.
Other journalists and media personalities showed their support for Gorman, with Campaign Edge creative director Dee Madigan calling for advertisers, such as Fitness First, to boycott the publication.
Hey @FitnessFirstAU by advertising on the @DailyMailAU site, you are supporting a site that steals other journalists work. @withMEAA
— Dee Madigan (@deemadigan) June 19, 2017
AdNews reached out to Fitness First, but they had not responded at the time of publication.
Yesterday, Gorman said on Twitter she has sent the editor of Daily Mail an invoice for the use of her work.
I've sent the editor of @DailyMailAU an invoice for using my work without permission. Let's see what happens now #journotheft
— @gingergorman (@GingerGorman) June 20, 2017
“MEAA will continue to enforce the Journalist Code of Ethics among our members,” McInerney says.
“The best avenue for addressing the plagiarism problem is among the news publishers themselves. MEAA believes the Australian Press Council would be an appropriate forum for the publishers to discuss their concerns and reach an agreement. MEAA will take all steps open to us to ensure genuine journalism is recognised and not stolen.”
Six months ago, the same issue occurred for Gorman when she published a major investigation on child abuse, which was quickly picked up by Daily Mail and Mamamia.
Back in 2014, News Corp labelled Daily Mail as “copy snatchers and parasites”.
In the UK, Daily Mail has a long chequered history for not only plagiarism and unethical behaviour. The tabloid recently came under fire for implying a resident of the Grenfell estate was to blame for a fire that killed dozens of people.
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