Journalists are calling for the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) to stop the Daily Mail from “stealing” the work of other journalists.
Journalist Ginger Gorman is leading the “theft” accusations after the Daily Mail "plagiarised" her story on internet trolls.
Gorman originally published her investigative piece on the Sydney Morning Herald.
Snippets and quotes were then taken by the Daily Mail and published under another journalist’s by line, without recognition of the original author.
Gorman took to Twitter to call out the Daily Mail, questioning the ethics of the publication.
.@mcphee23 just wondering why you think it's ok to republish my story w your byline on it? It's stealing #journotheft @withMEAA
— @gingergorman (@GingerGorman) June 18, 2017
Other journalists showed their support of Gorman, also criticising The Daily Mail for the replication of her story.
Rare photo of a standard Daily Mail keyboard: pic.twitter.com/20kVTUkKip
— anthonyroberts (@anthonyroberts) June 18, 2017
So sick of seeing media outlets rip off freelancers and strip their bylines. We're just fodder for unethical editors https://t.co/wbbu8TOi7f
— Jenny Valentish (@JennyValentish) June 18, 2017
https://twitter.com/_AmyGray_/status/876557688972337152This is theft. And lazy journalism. But mainly theft. https://t.co/fvjsZrcodM
— Kerri Sackville (@KerriSackville) June 18, 2017
The MEAA also tweeted about the accusations:
https://twitter.com/withMEAA/status/876557688972337152Clause 10 of the MEAA Journalist Code of Ethics: "Do not plagiarise" https://t.co/Z0xzmUPvLe #MEAAmedia pic.twitter.com/aHTGk7zkxN
— MEAA (@withMEAA) June 19, 2017
Campaign Edge creative director Dee Madigan is campaigning for Daily Mail advertisers to pull their support:
Please @FitnessFirstAU don't advertise on @dailymailau whose business model is to steal content. Partic. when so many journos are unemployed
— Dee Madigan (@deemadigan) June 19, 2017
Gorman has requested others complain to The Daily Mail about the media company “stealing the work of ethical journalists”.
Only six months ago, Gorman published a major investigation on child abuse, which was also picked up by the Daily Mail and Mamamia.
At the time, Gorman wrote an impassioned post warning the practice is damaging the future of journalism.
It’s a concern that has been raised before by News Corp, who in 2014 labelled The Daily Mail journalists as “copy snatchers and parasites”.
Earlier this month, Media Watch host Paul Barry has slammed the Daily Mail as “gutter journalism” for its negative representation of women.
The Daily Mail declined to comment.
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