STC Just Don't Get It
Following inquiries to Sydney Theatre Company general manager Rob Brookman in the matter of plagiarism in the company's theatre programs, Brookman wrote (December 19, PM)
"This seems to be a pretty fair explanation to me from our Publications Editor:
"The website that this information came from had the material listed as public domain and no author listed. As per usual I emailed the website to seek clearance but did not recieve a response. Subsequently, I did not credit as I was unsure of the author and thought it was public domain. The website I got the information from did not link the information to this documentary at all.
"In future I will not proceed with anything we do not recieve [sic] clearance on, even when listed as public domain."
We wrote back:
"Rob - I'm sorry, but I'm amazed at the publications editor's response. 'Public domain' is such a cop out and his/her response is either disingenuous or ignorant and neither are very good excuses.
"If what he/she has written as an explanation is true then the material should have been credited along the lines of "From various sources in the public domain including Wikipedia". But that wouldn't have looked very good for the STC - would it?
"Plagiarism is plagiarism, and the ease of sourcing material from the 'net doesn't make it less so.
"This news snippet from today's Sydney Morning Herald [December 19], headlined "Judge stands down" indicates how seriously plagiarism is taken in the real world.
"It reads: "A federal magistrate who plagiarised parts of three judgements has resigned. Jennifer Rimmer sat on the Federal Magistrates Court in Brisbane until March, when it was found she had failed to attribute text copied from a sexual harassment judgement. Two further instances were later discovered."
"Plagiarism isn't a joke, Rob. Item 10 of the MEAA code of ethics reads simply: 'Do not plagiarise'."
