I’m breaking with the established guidelines for this site to reproduce in full the response of Rajpal Abeynaike, Editor of Lakbima, in response to the story this website ran on his practice of publishing content from the Sri Lankan blogosphere without attribution. I do not wish to comment on these responses and believe they speak volumes of an approach to journalism that is as regrettable as it is exceptionable.
First response:
Sanjana, My friend, (of course you are my friend) I always knew you were a dumb idiot, and so like the dumb idiot you are, you say there was ‘plagiarism’ involved.
The definition of plagiarism is you pass of somebody’s stuff as your own. Now you might want to do such a thing with your limited capabilities, but I am sure everybody in Sri Lanka would acknowledge I wouldn’t. (Except one maybe two dumb blogistas like yourself who only want to get their hit counts increased by making a issue out of this non issue.)
All that was done at LN was that we carried blog posts with attribution. (……for example, Rythmic Diasapora, etc etc.,) Sordid story of plagiarism heh heh. You sordid bugger!
We did not carry the URL — the link back, which is only a further step, but we never passed off any of these as our work least of all my work for goddsakes! — so obviously you have to go on and learn what simple words in the English dictionary mean.
Now, you want to look a hero from your old NGO outpost, you can do so. You want to ride this thing to NGO stardom, as some protector of Media Ethics, you can do so and exposed yourself further as the rather vapid self appointed self important busybody charlatan you already are.
As for me — I know what plagiarism means, what a good read means, and what hypocrisy means.
If any blogista out there doesn’t like his blogs or bogs on our pages, just write and say so. Until then, we stand by what we did – -which was to print the blogs WITH THE BLOG NAME which would have indicated to any dunderheadexcept you and one or two “hit count blogistas’ that we are doing anything but plagiarizing – because we are making sure that this is SOMEBDY else’s work by giving the blog name.
I’ll write about this at length later, so please do look forward to your further demolition.
But you’ll always remain my friend, my sweet little NGO ingénue.
Sordid story of plagiarism indeed – you sordid, vapid, sanctimonious dumb bugger!
Tata,
Rajpal
Second response:
By the way Sanjana, If you want to find out what’s unethical, chum, just look in the mirror.
You have your ranting blog in some 20 point bold with a massive headline, and you give the answers to your drivel, a 9pt plain font, without a headline at all.
If you have anything close to media ethics, you will print this blog
a) at the same point size you gave your illogical rant
b) With a similarly screaming headline.
But what to do. You are only a sanctimonious humbug NGO ingénue.
What to do my friend, what to do? — Raj