Say the word "plagiarism" and names like disgraced New York Times reporter
Jayson Blair, and chick-lit author Kaavya Viswanatha come to mind.
It's unlikely the names Horst and Daniel Zielske ring a similar bell.
But according to an eye-opening slideshow by David Segal that's this morning's centerpiece on Slate.com, the Zeiskes have also been accused of purloining the work of another. I
n this case, the theft includes not words but images, and the victim is not a writer but a visual artist.
"Can Photographers Be Plagiarists?" is also an excellent example of the way that text and images married in a slideshow can be a powerful story, produced outside the traditional box of story and photos displayed in discrete fashion, detached from each other.
Tough question. Is it OK for photo journalists to take the the same picture from the same perspective, nearly the same lighting, focus, attention... and call it their own? My gut tells me yes. As with the photos in the slideshow, the photos were taken at different times. And my opinion is that the Zeiskes' photos are better than Peter Bialobizeski's, so it's an updated look at the same thing. It is different. But being the same image complicates it. When I think about this beyond the photo journalist perspective, and look from my own, as a print journalist, I know it would be an obvious case of plagerism if I were to write an article that is almost entirely the same, from the same perspective, with the same focus, etc. This comparison might be a stretch, so I'd propose, for credibility's sake, adding a photo cutline or tag that says something like this, "Photo inspired by the earlier work of Peter Bialobizeski, 2001."
Posted by: Nicholas | February 08, 2007 at 10:29 AM
ia before e especially after g
Posted by: Nicholas | February 12, 2007 at 11:29 AM