Yes and no.
The telegraph pulled their article in the face of the allegation, had people
go over it, and dismissed the claim of plagiarism.
The NUJ got in touch to say they were looking at it. No further news there.
Brian.
-----Original Message-----
From: wikinews-l-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org
[mailto:wikinews-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of
wikinewssvt(a)optonline.net
Sent: 15 October 2008 02:27
To: Wikinews mailing list
Subject: Re: [Wikinews-l] Allegations of copying from Wikipedia
Brian McNeil,
Is it safe to assume that you have not heard back from The Telegraph or the
NUJ?
<http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/User:SVTCobra> SVTCobra
----- Original Message -----
From: Brian McNeil
Date: Thursday, September 25, 2008 6:35 am
Subject: [Wikinews-l] Allegations of copying from Wikipedia
To: telegraph(a)blj.co.uk
Cc: 'Wikinews mailing list'
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Brian McNeil, I am a bureaucrat and accredited
reporter on
Wikipedia's sister project, Wikinews (
http://en.wikinews.org
). I am investigating allegations that
have been
raised on Wikipedia that material has been copied from Wikipedia
in your
publication.
The allegations center around the obituary for author James
Crumley, the
online version of this is at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3062745/James-
Crumley.html. The
current version of the Wikipedia article is located at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Crumley. This has undergone
some revision
since Crumley's death, but some word-for-word identical sections
remain.
While I wait on those who have made the allegations providing further
information I would greatly appreciate knowing who was
responsible for the
Telegraph obituary, and what the paper's stance on such issues is.
While the term plagiarism has been bandied about in the
discussion on
Wikipedia, it is more technically accurate - if true - to
describe this as
an infringement of the license under which Wikipedia content is
provided.The license is the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL
- linked to from the
foot of every Wikipedia page). The terms of this license are
relativelyliberal in what reuse is permitted, but there is a
"viral" clause to ensure
that those who profit from the material share their works. The
upshot of
this would be that and work substantially derived from a GFDL
article must
also be made available under such a license.
I look forward to your response on this matter, as I hope you
appreciatethis is relatively urgent to maintain the timeliness
of the news.
Regards,
Brian McNeil
Wikinews Bureaucrat & Accredited Reporter
Email: Brian.McNeil(a)wikinewsie.org