Saturday 30 June 2007

BE-IZZAT BE-ABR'E'U -- III

More often than not a genre of crime doesn't end, it merely mutates into another form.
Herald's tryst with plagiarism under Editor Robin Abreu continues. But he's not plagiarising editorials this time. The breeding ground for unethical and unlawful journalistic practices has now shifted from the newspaper's editorial pages to its magazine supplements.
One of the crucial reasons perhaps, is that these supplements INSIGHT, FRIENDS, etc are rarely uploaded on the website. Perhaps Robin felt that this would make it that more difficult for anyone to pin down the plagiarism.
One could have missed it... but the moment one reads a byline "NIKHIL JOSEPH" something strikes you. Not only does the name indicate possible hybrid descent, but also hints at a very hybrid imagination. NIKHIL JOSEPH has been midwifed by Robin and his gang on the pages of Herald's magazines for its readers to behold.
Who is in charge of these magazines now? Cosme -- the (forever) Little one, or is it Maria? Why is there not even a whimper of protest coming from the former? Look, getting plagiarised stuff printed on the magazine is not as innocuous as it appears. When one writes a column for these magazines (NIKHIL JOSEPH write whole pages sometimes), the accounts department automatically issues a cheque for the submission in favor of the writer.
Now we are assuming that all these articles written by NIKHIL JOSEPH are being paid for? PENPRICKS is dead sure that NIKHIL JOSEPH is a fictitious entity (you will soon read why). In that case, who is picking up the cheques, that are being issued by the Herald's accounts department in favour of NIKHIL JOSEPH. Who's taking the money?
Frankie Gracias, you cover Crime there... You had better take this bit between you teeth and look about, if you wish to. Stop worrying about cops' motorcycles being stolen, someone's pilfering money in your own office bud...
Could someone tell us, how much folks actually get for writing an article in the magazines? We are sure it varies with the sort of thing you write and your stature as the writer. Since we see NIKHIL JOSEPH writing about nukes and all, we presume he is being paid a pretty bit more than other amateur writers.
Phew... now who's NIKHIL JOSEPH? On August 6, 2005 NIKHIL JOSEPH was based in Los Angeles and worte a terrific piece for the International Herald Tribune and called himself Bennet Ramberg (Could be born at Ramgarh, UP? hmmm debatable :) hehe)
In his earlier years, NIKHIL JOSEPH also served as a policy analyst at the US State Department from 1989 to 1990. See this is the calibre of writers Herald has been sourcing from all over the world. And you think Herald would pay him Rs 200 to Rs 250 for his articles in Herald's magazines, which they normally pay contributors? Naaa...
Lets go a year back to July 2004, our NIKHIL JOSEPH had developed another interest... WATCHES... Around that time he called himself Avinash Kalla and wrote stories for the DECCAN HERALD (hehe... has the name Herald been plagiarised too?) as the story we have reproduced below shows. This time round, PENPRICKS did not think it necessary to highlight the copied portions, cause the plagiarim is wholesale... But dammit... its fun... we'll do it anyway, its easier for you guys to see it...
And the most recent fraud...
NIKHIL JOSEPH'S June 25 article on the Herald has been lifted wholesale from a website called www.byparentsforparents.com and the title of the story is 'When we talk about privacy'. And guess what... its written by Ruth Suli Urman (see, we told you there was something odd here... NIKHIL JOSEPH also loves to play drag sometimes when writes his articles, hehe). You can also read up another story that has been plagiarised from the website and plagiarised in the Herald titled 'Parents Guide to the teens Online World'
Hey guys by the way, we thought we alone had this one -- there goes our exclusive tag :( -- , but a quick scan on the web shows that the investigative botanist/horticulturist :) Minguel Braganza seems to have partially beaten us to this one... He did find something funny about NIKHIL JOSEPH last month.

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4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think the contributor's photograph should accompany the Herald’s paid articles.

Does Herald not pay via a/c payee cheque?

Do you believe that Herald has been notified about this matter?

1 July 2007 at 01:09  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey guys. Keep up the good work you're doing. Where the supplements are concerned, Maria is 'supposed to be' in charge of the Junior Herald but it seems Cosme Dias still is the real person in charge of the magazine(Can you imagine one person having two columnin one supplement?) , since Maria is not allowed freedom to choose articles and columnists according to how she now conceives the magazine to be. Cosme unlike others whoe left the Herald in a huff, is a regular visitor having regular secret 'cabinet meetings' with the Editor from which Naria is excluded and has no say at all in the functioning of Junior Herald at all apparently everything is decided in the closed door secret 'cabinet meetings' .Editor tells Maria to do certain tasks for the magazine and when she successfully arranges it there is a secret tephonic meeting between cosme and te editor and everything is changed, so that Maria is put in a bad light. Is she being paranoid and feering redundant. You decide. By the way, some articles of the Junior Herald are on the company web. Please don't blame Maria, but she is thankful that you guys have noticed and highlighted her plight as she is being victimised by the unscrupulous.

1 July 2007 at 11:59  
Blogger Pen Pricks said...

your last point... Raul knows about all this... But he cares a damn... Robin suits his interest best. An editor who doesn't ask questions. An editor who is as unscrupluous as him when it comes to making money. An editor who isn't larger than the newspaper. And an editor who saves money, whichever way. There was a time in the Herald when Raul even put forth the option of discontinuing with the ticker (PTI/UNI/AFP) service and was seriously contemplating the possibility of 'borrowing' news from the internet. This was even discussed in an editorial meeting some time back

1 July 2007 at 12:47  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If Herald and the publishers care a damn then why all this comment on plagiarism ? At the most those who do care should stop reading the Herald, since it has now acquired the dubious distinction of a newspaper that encourages plagiarism.

1 July 2007 at 22:53  

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