The number of complaints about cases of plagiarism in journalism has increased. A part of the cases are sold as he journalists who copied admit their guilt and communicate the sources from where they took the information without permission, IPN reports.

Secretary of the Press Council of Moldova Petru Macovei said that the Council receives more and more complaints from journalists, who say that their colleagues copy the texts or pictures, breaching thus the Journalist’s Deontological Code. “Plagiarism is considered one of the most shameful non-deontological practices of the journalists and represents intellectual theft. By two-three complaints come monthly from those whose articles are copied by other persons who didn’t work to obtain this information. Most of the times, the complaints are dealt with when the Press Council informs the given media outlet, which makes sure that the minimum deontological requirements are respected,” stated Petru Macovei.

The Journalist’s Deontological Code says that at most 500 signs, but not more than half of the article or news item, can be taken from the journalistic materials without money. In these cases, the source and author of the information must be quoted. In the case of informational portals, there must be indicated the direct link to the source too.

Petru Macovei said the problem of plagiarism in journalism is typical of the journalistic communities from a number of former Soviet states. The impact and methods of discouraging plagiarism will be examined in a meeting of representatives of the press councils of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, and Tajikistan in Odessa in September. The press councils of these states created a regional network of journalistic self-regulatory bodies.

According to the study “Perception of plagiarism in journalism” made by the Press Council of Moldova in 2012, 69% of the 49 journalists and press managers who were surveyed said their materials were copied by other journalists at least once. 49% of the respondents whose materials were copied didn’t solve the cases, while the others solved the problem face to face.

The activity of the Press Council of Moldova is supported financially by East-Europe Foundation from the resources provided by the Swedish Government trough the Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency (Sida).