Plagiarism Rows Rock South African Newspapers
South Africa's media was frothing yesterday over a spate of plagiarism rows which has embarrassed newspapers and cost one columnist his job. Cynthia Vongai, the editor of South Africa's Elle magazine, was the latest to be accused after a column in the daily Sowetan bore a striking...
South Africa's media was frothing yesterday over a spate of plagiarism rows which has embarrassed newspapers and cost one columnist his job.
Cynthia Vongai, the editor of South Africa's Elle magazine, was the latest to be accused after a column in the daily Sowetan bore a striking resemblance to an article published weeks ago on the website askmen.com.
Though Vongai reportedly said she had credited the source, that defence was not enough to kill the story; in South Africa's current mood it is open season on any writer whose work resembles published material.
The hunt started two months ago when Darrel Bristow-Bovey, a star columnist at several newspapers, was caught replicating paragraphs from Bill Bryson's Notes from a Big Country for his new book, The Naked Bachelor.
Soon afterwards an uncredited section from Jeremy Paxman's book, The English, surfaced in one of his columns for the Cape Times.
This "island of carelessness", as he called his previous slip-up, prompted the Cape Times, Business Day and the Sunday Independent to accept his resignation.
Cynthia Vongai, the editor of South Africa's Elle magazine, was the latest to be accused after a column in the daily Sowetan bore a striking resemblance to an article published weeks ago on the website askmen.com.
Though Vongai reportedly said she had credited the source, that defence was not enough to kill the story; in South Africa's current mood it is open season on any writer whose work resembles published material.
The hunt started two months ago when Darrel Bristow-Bovey, a star columnist at several newspapers, was caught replicating paragraphs from Bill Bryson's Notes from a Big Country for his new book, The Naked Bachelor.
Soon afterwards an uncredited section from Jeremy Paxman's book, The English, surfaced in one of his columns for the Cape Times.
This "island of carelessness", as he called his previous slip-up, prompted the Cape Times, Business Day and the Sunday Independent to accept his resignation.
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