ME and Ophelia

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Jim O'Connell's blog is ahead of the times
Plagiarism by widely linked bloggers

Yesterday, the Sunday Times printed this item: "Shipping news of the week - The Japanese navy has launched a controversial advertising campaign to publicise its work in Iraq and attract new recruits. Television ads show seven sailors dancing on the deck of a ship and singing a song called Nippon - Seaman - Ship. A voiceover then announces: "I love Japan. I love peace. The Maritime Self-Defence Force." A spokesman defended the campaign, saying: "There are a lot of young people and women who don't seem interested in the navy."

Last month, Jim O'Connell of Wirefarm in Tokyo blogged the same news. Jim's post, dated 9 March, "Come for the Seaman Stay for the ship" is much more enlightening as it provides a link to the controversial and amusing advert.

Who knows, one day professional journalists may take news from weblogs and attribute the source by publishing a URL. Somehow, I doubt it though. I've noticed how some bloggers (no names mentioned but let's just say they have hundreds of blogs linking to them) take stuff and ideas that originate from less linked blogs and use them without linking back to the source. I read a lot of blogs and have seen it several times with my own eyes. It's happened to half a dozen of my posts. I've not forgotten who the bloggers are either. I wonder if they do it thinking that nobody will notice - or they just don't care. Such behaviour is a good insight into a bloggers character. Sort of like cheating at exams or copying someone else's homework.