Bill Scott said: > [Jay Leno] paid Altman for the right to claim Altman's life story as his own.
> see: http://www.wwtdd.com/enlargedimage/?back_to=/?attachment_i d=482981&postid=482981 > Is this plagiarism? Leno wrote the story but who's the author? Perhaps I shouldn't have used the header "Why isn't this plagiarism?" The real issue isn't whether this or other stuff is plagiarism but whether it's ethical, whatever you call it. Same thing for self-plagiarism. The argument should be over what was done rather than what you call it. So let's call the whole broad category "authorship misconduct" or anything better that anyone can suggest. This occurs whenever a purported author gets a benefit which results from concealing the true circumstances of authorship. Is Bill's example about Jay Leno authorship misconduct? You bet! When I pay for an autobiography, one of the things I want to know for sure is that the events really happened. If Leno had truthfully stated on the title page "Some of these stories about me are true and others happened to other people, only I pretend they happened to me", how many people would have bought his book? The subterfuge to gain an advantage makes this authorship misconduct. Speaking of authorship, I see that Dubya (Bush) is about to publish his memoir "Decision Points". Did he wrote it himself? And if not, does he acknowledge who really wrote it? Maybe he thinks he should be author because he supplied the crayons. Stephen -------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca --------------------------------------------- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=6236 or send a blank email to leave-6236-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
