The plagiarism and Linda Ikeji’s blogosphere affair by Michael Irene
3 minute read
The World Wide Web introduced the world to new ways of doing things.
Corporate organisations use it as a platform to attract consumers and
gain recognition on a global scale and more importantly, people use it
as an avenue to promote their personal lifestyles, music and writing.
Without the World Wide Web, one may argue, acts of tweeting, blogging,
facebooking, mailing, youtubing etc. etc., would never have made the
light of day. Most Nigerians, however, in recent years, have grossly
misused this world created by technology.Some days ago, Google slapped a
famous Nigerian blogger, Linda Ikeji, and perhaps one of the richest
bloggers in Nigeria, famous for posting gossips and news almost on
anything, on the face with accusations of plagiarism. One Mr. Aye Dee,
who is also a blogger, drew Google’s attention to her acts.
Consequently, Ikeji’s blog was pulled down. Continue...
However, Ikeji in her long treatise in defence
against the accusation levied on her, claims that Mr. Dee is a “hater”
and admitted that she “take(s) content from other sites” and goes
further to boast the she takes “plenty of it sef.” Ikeji is a good
crook. At least, she can defend her actions and take responsibility for
irresponsibility. She goes further to ask an important question in her
lamentation: “which site doesn’t take news from other sites?” Then, she
answers her inquiry, “that is how media runs.” To an extent, Ikeji is
right about how the media runs, especially in Nigeria where plagiarism
is the new form of journalistic practises. A quick glance at most news
reports, articles, blogs, by many Nigerian newspapers, publishers, would
reveal that the fourth estate is peopled with inept elements. Most
Nigerian journalists are copy and paste writers, they are too lazy to
carry out good research and ask good questions. Premium Times, Ynaija,
just to mention those two, are examples of online newspaper and blog
that have displayed such insouciance in recent pasts and perhaps, still
do. Ironically, Ikeji’s whistle-blower, Mr. Aye Dee, has also been
accused by other bloggers of plagiarism as well. Where is the honour
among crooks?
After a close study of the issue, one can see reasons why Ikeji, instead
of apologising about her fraudulent acts, would lecture the world about
how the media is a free field for different kind of masquerades to
display their magic. Any kind of plagiarism is bad. It is, as a matter
of fact, similar to pickpocketing, armed-robbery and a host of other
punishable crimes. Ikeji stems from a system where even university
professors, lecturers, students, musicians and pastors steal contents
and claim it as theirs. A university lecturer in Lagos, downloaded a
book from the internet, printed it and slammed his name on the book then
sold it to his students. The students found out but didn’t have the
guts to report to school authorities or just didn’t see anything wrong
in their lecturer’s shameful act. Plagiarism is not limited to bloggers
alone. Many musicians have been accused numerous times of using other
people’s content without referencing or acknowledging the owner. A
couple of days ago, Bishop TD Jakes, founder of The Potter’s House,
vowed to file a lawsuit against American rappers Young Jeezy and
Kendrick Lamar for using portions of his sermon without his consent.
Jay-Z stole most of his lyrics in some of his songs from the late
Notorious B.I.G but he claims to be “bigging up [his] brother”. Our own
Tuface Idibia was accused of using Black Face’s line in his famous
African Queen song. So, kini big deal? Ikeji’s blog gets an estimated
five hundred thousand visitors a day and companies place ads on her
page. There must be a reason why her visitors and corporate customers
love her enough to ignore her deed. They don’t see it as a crime. It is a
Nigerian norm. But there’s a rule—don’t get caught. One hopes this
exposé helps the woman do the right thing henceforth. It also serves as a
clarion call to owners of newspaper, blogs, magazines, to always seek
consent before publishing other people’s work
Source: AfikpoChic
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