3 Count: Stating Reinstatement

Jonathan BaileyAugust 17, 2012

2 minutes read

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday.

1: Time and CNN Reinstate Journalist After Review

First off today, Christine Haughney of The New York Times reports that Fareed Zakaria has been reinstated by both CNN and Time magazine following a plagiarism scandal. Zakaria, who is a commentator and host on CNN and editor-at-large at time, was rocked by a plagiarism scandal last week after it was discovered that a paragraph used in a recent Time column came, in large part, from an earlier essay in The New Yorker. Zakaria admitted to and apologized for the plagiarism but was suspended from both publications pending an investigation. However, they both now say that their investigation is done and that they have found no further issues with his work, saying that this was a one-time lapse in judgement. Zakaria also writes a column for the Washington Post and is expected to resume that as well.

2: Sotto Immune from Plagiarism Raps, Top Aide Says

Next up today, RG Cruz of ABS-CBN News reports that, even as Zakaria is being reinstated a Philippines Senator is under new scrutiny for plagiarism. Philippine Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto has been accused by U.S.-based blogger Sarah Pope of reusing text from a post of her when he gave a contentious speech on birth control. The speech, which was aimed at the Senate but given from the Web, is part of a larger national debate about birth control at government-funded clinics. However, rather than apologizing, Sotto has hit back at Pope saying that he acknowledged the original source of the passage and didn’t owe Pope any attribution because he is immune to copyright laws as a legislator and that blogs were “public domain”. The debate comes at a time where several copyright bills are being debated in the Philippines, including with the target of stopping digital piracy and Sotto is widely regarded as a champion of the entertainment industry.

3: Gossip Magazine’s Celebrity Wedding Photos Broke Law, Court Says

Finally today, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that an appeals court has found that the Spanish-langage magazine “TVNotas” violated the copyright of a celebrity couple by publishing photographs of their wedding. In 2007, Noelia Monge, a pop singer was wed to Jorge Reynosa, a music producer and manager and an employee for the couple took photos. TVNotas acquired the images when that employee sold them to the magazine in 2009 without the copule’s permission. However, as the employers, the couple held copyright in the images and filed suit. However, TVNotas attempted to claim that their publication was a fair use, something the court disagreed with 2-1. The case may now be appealed to the Supreme Court, which may or may not decide to hear the case.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.