{"id":2848,"date":"2026-05-17T21:44:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T01:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/?p=2848"},"modified":"2026-05-17T21:44:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T01:44:17","slug":"journalism-doesnt-just-have-a-plagiarism-problem-it-has-a-thought-thief-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/17\/journalism-doesnt-just-have-a-plagiarism-problem-it-has-a-thought-thief-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalism doesn’t just have a plagiarism problem. It has a thought thief problem."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Well, well, well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ross Barkan has tried to find a plagiarism loophole. I doubt it will work. As reported<\/a> by Bobby Allyn for NPR:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A hyperlink is not enough. It is acceptable to mention the author and publications in tags. A screenshot to back it up also helps. You can use the journalist’s name, and\/or the publication, date, and have a clear reference section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Barkan is said to have written four books and articles in one year. As someone who has published four books a year for several years straight, I can tell you this: you gain weight. You have to sit and write, sit and research and that has an effect on your body. You can write one book and stay slim, but four? There is either some serious diet drug devouring, or major shortcuts at play, and with these revelations, I am guessing the latter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He took shortcuts to produce big quantities of writing, and it shows.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he is hardly the only one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it isn’t just plagiarism. It is about stealing ideas without attribution, from a turn of a phrase to a story idea, the artful dodgers are still lurking in the profession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barkan got caught with using swathes of other people’s work and not giving credit to either the journalist or the publication. People, as a general rule, do not click on hyperlinks, and why I rarely use them. I give you enough information to find the original source, and the words I write are mine. I use AI for research, and when I quote AI, I clearly identify it. Perplexity has been an invaluable aid for my work, and you will see attribution from me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People like Barkan can get attention because they have time to network and market themselves, something truly prolific authors cannot do: you either focus on the work or focus on your PR. You can’t do both.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, well, well. Ross Barkan has tried to find a plagiarism loophole. I doubt it will work. As reported by Bobby Allyn for NPR: A hyperlink is not enough. It is acceptable to mention the author and publications in tags. A screenshot to back it up also helps. You can use the journalist’s name, and\/or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,460],"tags":[185,7,186,661,166,659,404,662,42],"class_list":["post-2848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alexandra-kitty","category-the-damage-report","tag-ai","tag-alexandra-kitty","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-bobby-allyn","tag-journalism","tag-new-york-magazine","tag-npr","tag-ross-barkan","tag-united-states"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2848"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2851,"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2848\/revisions\/2851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alexandrakitty.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}