Editor’s Note: Original Article written by Angela Stuart-Santiago over at her blog stuartsantiago.com and reproduced here with written consent.
while it was great that upon cory’s death pinoy tv was swamped with docus that revisited her exalted place in philippine history, one docu, Laban ni Cory, produced and aired many times by ABS-CBN 2 from august 2 onward, raised my ire and my eyebrows.
my ire because some of karen davila’s narrative spiels covering the period of the snap elections through to EDSA sounded oh so familiar, so very close to, if not my very own words in, Himagsikan sa EDSA — Walang Himala! and yet there was no attribution, as though karen davila herself researched and wrote the stuff (wow ang galing), something that took me all of twelve years, lol.
I
KAREN DAVILA:(010) Sa paniniwalang sila ang tunay na nanalo sa eleksiyon, isang victory rally ang inilunsad sa Luneta nina Cory at Doy, na dinumog naman ng mahigit isang milyong tao.
(013) At bilang tugon sa malawakang dayaan sa eleksiyon, inilunsd nina Cory Aquino at Doy Laurel ang civil disobedience campaign, Himinok ang taong bayan na huwag magbayad ng koryente, tubig, at iboykot ang media, bangko at iba pang kompanyang pagaari ng mga tuta ni Marcos. Marami ang sumangayon at sumunod sa panawagang ito. Wala pang isang linggo mula nang unang manawagan ng boycott si Cory nameligro ang ekonomiya ng bansa at nataranta ang mga negosyante.
HIMAGSIKAN SA EDSA–Walang Himala! page 40 last paragraph
Ika-16 ng Pebrero, sa isang “victory rally” sa Luneta na dinumog ng mahigit isang milyong tao, inilunsad nina Cory Aquino at Doy Laurel ang kanilang civil disobedience campaign. Nagpilit si Cory na siya ang nagwagi sa eleksiyon at nangakong pupuwersahin niya si Marcos na magbitiw, sabay hinimok ang taong-bayan na sabayan siya sa pagsuway sa mga utos ng diktador — huwag magbayad ng koryente at tubig, iboykot ang crony media at crony banks, gayon din ang Rustan’s Department Store, San Miguel Corporation, at iba pang kompanyang pag-aari ng mga tuta at katoto ni Marcos.
page 42 paragraph 2
Wala pang isang linggo mula nang unang manawagan ng boykot si Cory…
page 41 paragraph 1
Nataranta ang malalaking negosyante, gayon din ang multinationals …
II
DAVILA:
(022) Kakaiba na noon ang ihip ng hangin. Palaban na ang taong bayan, sabik sa pagbabago at may natatanaw nang pagasa, salamat sa biyuda ng isang tao …
HIMAGSIKAN page 42 last paragraph
Salamat sa biyuda ni Ninoy, kakaiba na noon ang ihip ng hangin. Mapanghimagsik na ang timpla ng taong-bayan, punong-puno bigla ng pag-asa, sabik sa mga naamoy na pagbabago, noong bisperas ng EDSA.
III
DAVILA
(063) Naghudyat si Ver ng all out attack sa riot police, sa marine artillery, sa mga helicopter gunship, at mga jet bomber.
(067) Naririnig din si Marcos sa radyo. Isinusumpang lilipulin ang mga rebelde.
HIMAGSIKAN page 135 paragraph 2
Sa Fort Bonifacio, naghudyat sina Ver at Ramas ng all-out attack sa riot police, sa Marine artillery, sa mga helicopter gunship, at sa mga jet bomber. Naririnig si Marcos sa radyo, isinusumpang lilipulin ang mga rebelde.
IV
DAVILA
(070) Pumosisyon ang mga sundalo at nagkasahan ng mga baril. Subalit walang atakeng nangyari. Lumapag ang mga chopper sa Crame. Isa-isang lumabas ang mga pilot, may hawak na mga puting bandila at naglalaban sign.
HIMAGSIKAN page 138 paragraph 4
Napakagat ng labi ang mga sundalo, nagkasahan ng mga baril, pumosisyon.
page 139 from last paragraph page 138
Isa-isang lumalabas ang mga piloto, may hawak na mga puting bandila at nagla-Laban sign.
V
DAVILA
(076) Ala singko ng hapon, sa kabila ng banta sa kanyang seguridad sumaglit sa EDSA si Cory …
(081) Sa main entrance ng Philippine Overseas Amployment agency o POEA building nagbigay siya ng maikling talumpati sa mga taong nagtipon sa kantong iyon ng Ortigas at EDSA. Pinuri ni Cory ang mapayapang pagkilos ng mga tao…
HIMAGSIKAN page 165 paragraph 1
Bandang 5:00 ng hapon, nagpakita sa wakas sa EDSA/Ortigas si Cory Aquino, na Sabado pa ay hinahanap na ng mga Coryista. Sa main entrance ng Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) building, sa kanto ng EDSA at Ortigas, siya dumaan kasama ang kanyang pamilya at mga tagapagtaguyod.
paragraph 5
Sa kanyang talumpati sa mga taong nagtipon sa kantong iyon ng Ortigas at EDSA, pinuri ni Cory ang mapayapang pagkilos ng mga tao …
the docu’s closing credits list the writers and researchers. i expect the researchers cited their sources of info, it’s part of the job, and if so, who decided not to mention na lang these sources, the writers or the hosts? na okay lang naman as long as magaling sila and they can write the material in their own words. but even then, dapat ay mayroon pa ring acknowledgement sa dulo ang sources of information na hindi pa common knowledge.
kung hindi pala sila ganoong kagaling, dapat ay inamin nila by writing-in “ayon kay… sa librong so-and-so….” or maybe it was karen davila who couldn’t be bothered with “ayon sa’s”, akala niya ay makakalusot? whatever, whoever, wittingly or un-, she committed plagiarism by lifting and appropriating my words for her own use without a by-your-leave or a thank-you, how unprofessional, how dishonest, how disgraceful.
nakakataas ng kilay kasi it doesn’t take much time and effort to cite and acknowledge sources. unless of course the idea is to give the impression that hosts and writers of ABS-CBN News & Current Affairs productions are all-knowing and sufficient unto themselves?
so, okay, now that i’ve vented, what next? what do i expect? well. iniisip ko nga. an apology? too easy to shed crocodile tears. credits on the docu? rather too late, unless of course they have plans of selling dvds, in which case, okay, credits, and a share in the profits?
suggests a writer friend: like a lawyer can be disbarred, a beauty queen forced to abdicate, ask for the head of the plagiarist in the form of dismissal or suspension. or how about punishing the culprit by having her write a million times in longhand a very long mea culpa — the equivalent of 20 years of keyboarding chores or tendonitis. oscar lopez could also buy the next edition of your book to give away to all libraries nationwide.
sounds good, all of the above ;)
About the Author: Angela Stuart-Santiago is a Freelance Writer – Multi Media.
Author, HIMAGSIKAN SA EDSA – WALANG HIMALA! Won an Honourable Mention, Filipino Essay category, in the Philippine Centennial Literary Contest, August 1998. Published by the Foundation for Worldwide People Power, February 2000. 250 pages.
You can learn more about Angela Stuart-Santiago and her writings at stuartsantiago.com.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Wow, I’ll be watching this specific episode again. I’m disappointed, whether if it was on purpose or not, by leaving no credits, it really dispels the notion that indeed MSM these days is the guardian of what is to be termed as an ethical media.
I know bloggers who are more responsible when citing sources. But a mainstream show, on a mainstream topic, should really have more safeguards. tsk..
Some useful links:
The Journalist Code of Ethics
The 20 Best Free Anti-plagiarism Tools
Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines
—–
They should give credit where credit is due.
This can’t the first instance of copyright infringement. Authors or researchers (e.g. MLQ3, others) and specialty lawyers can give advise.
I would guess in a court-case, the loser pays the attorney-fees of the winning-side (plus other items).
They should print out all online sources (including source links) and put them in a file. They probably have to improve their system to accommodate online sources.
There are really too many fresh grads always going the easy way to write articles.
In the words of the author: Nakakataas nga ng kilay!
Btw, can I share this to my friends via email? :)
@ lei: of course, please feel free to share, the more people it reaches, the better ;)
Quality and integrity of supply simple reflects the quality and integrity of the demand.
If consumers have a pwede-na-yan regard for what they buy, suppliers will give them pwede-na-yan products and services.
If we are gonna express outrage over this instance of the Media’s insulting people’s intelligences (what little of it exists in Pinoy society, at least), then we may as well extend this outrage to the consistent ABSOLUTE inferiority of the products of Pinoy mass media (encompassing television, cinema, and, of course, journalism) IN GENERAL.
I wrote on Philippine Cinema in my book (which may as well have been written in reference to ALL of Pinoy media):
It’s simple, really™
Yet just the one side of the story – two more sides are needed – the other party and the true story in between.
Until then, well, one can say that there can be a perfect “convergence of ideas” in the public domain or that one journalist can paraphrase ideas so that he or she can express these ideas in her own words.
I am not sure but it is worth noting how this problem develops. It then shall be needing a form of ‘right of reply’ coming from Karen, if she so obliges in this forum.
To begin with, it would have been incumbent upon angela to open this issue in the very medium where she finds angela. Just a 2-cents worth of thought.
a perfect “convergence of ideas”??? meaning what, that it so happened that davila and her writers know as much about EDSA as i do, and that they happened to use the same words in telling their version of the story? napaka-farfetched.
the civil disobedience campaign, hindi yan pinag-uusapan in public in its details, as though the powers-that-be don’t want it to happen again. there is also nowhere else but my book where it is essayed that the civil disobedience campaign led to EDSA. that without it, the coryistas would not have been on revolutionary mode and would have let the ver troops wipe out the rebel military instead of coming to their aid to promote cory’s cause.
the order of marcos and ver for an all-out assault on crame is not common knowledge either. maraming naniniwala kay imelda at bongbong that marcos did not give the order to shoot, that he loved his country too much to kill innocent civilians. kuno.
“Napakagat ng labi ang mga sundalo, nagkasahan ng mga baril, pumosisyon……. Isa-isang lumalabas ang mga piloto, may hawak na mga puting bandila at nagla-Laban sign.” yeah, hard to say that in other words, sorry na lang sila. but that’s not common knowledge either. that info i found in mr.& ms. magazine and business day, respectively, published some days after EDSA, and to my knowledge has not been recounted in a docu in similar detail until “Laban ni Cory.”
finally, that cory was in edsa on day 3 was something even enrile did not know. for a long time he kept saying that cory wasn’t even in edsa, and so it should have been the rebel military, not cory, that benefitted from edsa. the info was also reported by only one newspaper at the time, the manila bulletin, which no one was reading anymore — coryistas had shifted to inquirer and malaya and manila times. common knowledge it was not.
i also don’t get what you mean that “it was incumbent upon angela to open this issue in the very medium where she finds…” what medium is this. television? msm? oh pleasssse. that’s like telling me to forget it.
Angela: This is a business; you should do what business people do. Get legal advise and act accordingly. By the examples you’ve given, your copyright/property rights were violated by ABS-CBN.
not to dispute your claim. i was in grade school when edsa 1 happened and i can remember hearing reports and conversations among relatives about this civil disobedience campaign. i don’t think that part of edsa 1 history was much of a secret.
however, your comparison of excerpts from davila’s script and your article clearly shows that the writer used your work as reference. the similarities in specific sentences and script/story flow are pretty obvious.
It is an assumption : that Davila knows “Intellectual Property Rights” but her ignorance-of-law does not diminish the recompense due to the property-owner.
ABS-CBN : knows “Intellectual Property Rights”.
It’s obvious, someone sourced you, Angela.
A large nationwide (even worldwide) TV/radio news & entertainment network such as ABS-CBN is given much patronage and “respect” by its viewers and audiences, thus so much professionalism and ethics are also required of them. To whom much is given, much is required.
With Willie Revillame’s controversy, and now with this complain against Karen Davila, is ABS-CBN seemingly going to plunge into hot water again?
Just recently, every once in a while, ANC (ABS-CBN’s News Channel) is flashing on their screen a quote from former President Corazon Aquino which states:
“The media’s power is frail. Without the people’s support, it can be shut off with the ease of turning a light switch.”
In the context above, perhaps ABS-CBN is trying to say something. To its supporters it could convey a positive message, but to its critics perhaps it could challenge or hint them about initiating something negative against the network.
Too many articles writen regarding the Martial Law era. I write not
on what I read ; but on what I had witnessed as ordinary citizen:
On the second term of Pres. Marcos. There was a renegade Liuetenant named Victor Corpuz. He was a PMA graduate and an active in the military. We dont know if he was a Communist Ideologue or a Military Commando. He raided the PMA Armory in Baguio. Then fled with the arms to the Province of Isabela. Task Force Lawin was created by Pres. Marcos and Sec. Enrile to track him down. The miulitary personnel of the Task Force Lawin abused the civilians in the province. Making the NPA symphatizers swell to large proportion. The Task Force was withdrawn and was disbanded.
The New People’s Army was very active then in the Sierra Madre Mountains along Cagayan and Isabela provinces. He raided also the
NortEast Command based in Echague, Isabela; destroying two Helicopters.
I think he was reinstated in the Miltary during the Pres. Aquino
term and rose to the rank of Brig. General. It is still an enigma
to most of us. What role he played in Philippines politics, or in
the military.
Hyden,
You witnessed all of that?
You went to Baguio,Isabela, Sierra Madre and Cagayan just to get an ordinary citizen’s account.WOW!
In the case of Angela, some lawyers may say that historical facts can not be plagiarized .In the case of Angela, not even hindsight or word of mouth or any convergence of ideas other than mental telepathy can make ABS CBN deny it was plagiarized.
Hyden,
Your example, tells me that other than the last paragraph, you might have read it somewhere or watched it(TV) or heard it(radio,word of mouth) somewhere.
Unless you followed Corpuz to Baguio,Isabela and Cagayan.(that’s a need to know and I don’t need to know)
Angela’s case:
no matter if everybody does not value quality anymore or can’t produce quality news or documentaries anymore due to time and economic constraints….
That is the absolute reality, but that is not the excuse.
I was in the Philippines, when these things happen. We have
newspaers, radios and words of mouth news during that time.
Now, I do not know the answer to this question (because I do not know if Time, Yahoo, the Washington Post or any others have sued or if EllenT already pays royalties to the WashingtonPost).
If permission has not been granted, then I think there is a breach-of-something with this practice where EllenT (and also DingG) lifts 80%-to-100% of articles from others.
http://www.ellentordesillas.com/?p=6758
In an age of the 24/7 news cycle and the evolution of journalism into entertainment, Davila, Legarda, Sanchez and Pinky are prime examples of quantity overtaking quality.
The rush to produce content in the midst of an event no one was prepared for and limited budgets and news outlets more tabloid in nature than anything else what does one expect.
World wide the phenomena of the emerging multimedia outlets had pushed serious news content to the margins.
Davila is simply a talking head Doll. The similarities in content of the piece under discussion was probably used to write her piece.
ok its better kung kumuha ng cla ng facts sa essay n un….
plagiarism is a sin in communication i hope din sana di nlng xa sumulat ng katulad ng ganun….
or di naman un storytelling n babasahin at ipapaliwang mo sa tao ang history ng isang bagay….
i hope din sana di nlng sana cla nag-ulat qng pareho lng din ang kakalabasan…..
since then…..i hope we learn that plagiarism shoud not be exercise by a professional writer write it from the heart….
I agree that you should have been cited as source for this documentary. tsk tsk, ABS CBN. I bet this is not the first time.
If this is the same “Laban ni Cory”, I think you can view the youtube video here in 8 parts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKhFQE_XTR4
(Incidentally, a video of me viewing Cory in her coffin was included)
Angela,
I hope you contribute to FV permanently. You may notice we’re short of estrogen here :)
Offhand, let us delve on two points:
One. Theoretically, nothing is far-fetched about shared worldviews over a single social or historical phenomenon such as a first-time ever People Power 86.
Thus, I could surmise that ‘convergence of ideas’ is not far removed. We can read all the books written on EDSA 1 and may see similar historical patterns of thoughts, biases, and maybe partisanships.
If I should tell you, my initial draft in my masteral thesis in UP has been claimed by my thesis adviser as the Monograph he presented in international conferences when it was mine. So strange things can happen.
Two. When I say, anyone can be at liberty to express disagreement, one is not limited by the medium itself. I just thought at first glance that what you actually did is to ‘forum shop’ at the web for lack of perhaps equal opportunity on TV or broadcast, as the case may be.
And just a last note. Your claim of certain historical ‘sub-events’ are not ordinarily known to the public at that time, is something that straightforwardly not true. For instance, we know what Marcos did, we know about this civil disobedience and everything you actually said. It didn’t come to me as first-time. Maybe, if we turn the table around, you also do not know a lot of other things inside Camp Crame where a good number of officers and enlisted personnel from across the military establishment were part and parcel of this struggle.
haha. You’re a plagiarist!
He’s not the plagiarist. The thesis adviser was.
read it the other way. His adviser claimed that the monograph (the adviser) presented in conferences was the initial draft of (primer’s) masteral thesis.
Hahaha.
Now I get it.
The thesis adviser asked him to revise his draft beacuse it was already presented abroad.
Now, I am dizzy.
Primer,
If I may suggest, please do not over-analyze this one. For the sake of amity, whatever remains here at Filipino Voices, this is a “give.”
If Angela strongly believes that something she worked hard on was unfairly taken from her, let’s give her the benefit of the doubt.
And MSM has been found guilty of this practice. Remember Mr. Granada (?) whose work was ‘stolen’ by the rival network?
The female species has some instinct that we don’t have. Call it intuition. It’s the same thing that allow women to tell who the real father of the baby is, dead center. :)
Mag-relax ka muna Mr. Primer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqNibgMdq6I
I find the assertion of plagiarism difficult to support. The documentary covered narrations of facts, events and people that have been written about and covered in several books on People Power. Angela does not and cannot have a singular claim over such things.
huh, K.D.? What else do we need to expect? It’s a “as always” thing for her, obviously. Looks like somebody here forgot to do her assignment before going on air. Just wondrin’ how she managed to deliver it well enough as if it was hers, either she has a good memory to memorize it, or she simply has the country’s best team of plagiarists, errr researchers… LOL
Credibility is the name of the game, K.D., just in case somebody forgot to remind you…
Give the credit to where it is rightfully due.
How do we say something was commmon knowledge and something is not? Do we interview every person? I believe much of the first paragraph was reworded but pretty much had the same flow. But the rest, I cannot say it was plagiarized. In the same way that you say your info was not common knowledge, she could have had the same knowledge or found it in another source unknown to you.
Di na ko nagtataka kung tinamad nang mag-isip ang mga manunulat ng ‘Laban ni Cory’. Minadali ang produksyon (aired the day after tita Cory’s passing)kaya nagresulta sa ilang ulit na broadcast glitch habang pinapalabas ito. Napakamediocre ng pagkakagawa. Sabi ko nga habang pinapanood yun, “Halos recycled ‘to ah.” At base sa entry na ‘to, mukhang ‘di nga ko nagkamali. May dahilan pala kaya ‘di ko na tinapos ang panonood nun. Sana ‘di na lang minadali.
rom,
It can happen, as it did happen, when a student’s thesis, say in clinical parasitology is being used in science exhibits as though if it were that of a faculty member.
If that is not plagiarism, then I don’t know what is.
Owning to initial draft when such is not his could be forgivable but it exhibits utter lack of tact.
While I expect comments like those to appear because it shows itself to be twistable, my honest aim is simply to demonstrate a point I raised with angela on the possible perils of so-called ‘convergence of ideas’.
At the very least, perhaps angela should undertake to do a matrix that will show clearly which portions were plagiarized. Absent that, we have to hear what karen davila has to say.
I thought this is exactly what Angela just did.. Point out exactly which parts where plagiarized.. Did you not see the whole portion in blockquotes?
A few things that I noted about Ms. Stuart-Santiago’s comment to Primer:
1) The civil disobedience was, in fact, common knowledge. It was covered by the papers and the products that were to be the subject of the boycott well-known. Priests across the various diocese in the country read letters along that line. In fact, even in schools — my school, for one — the selling of the cola drinks of one of the “named” products was banned. I do not know how you can make the assertion that the civil disobedience was not well-known.
2) The Marcos-Ver orders for an all-out assault was also well-documented in the papers, particularly in the day-to-day accounts that were chronicled in the broadsheets when Marcos finally fled. The supposed show-of-force by Ver and his generals with Marcos, down to the “dramatic dialogue”, was also shown on the government TV station. Books by Cecilio Arillo, Mercado and Tatad, among others, shortly after EDSA also documented the events, personalities and day-to-day accounts. Accounts by Generals Tadiar and Lim were also fairly well-covered.
3) Your assertion that the events, personalities, etc. that became the subject of the documentary was not common knowledge becomes all the more disingenuous when, as can be seen from your reply to Primer, that you referenced, among others, Mr. and Ms., Business Day, Manila Bulletin. Given that these were printed materials, what are the odds that you and only you would have had the singular opportunity of having read through these? That other people would not have had the chance to parse these and other materials as well as interviewed the personages back in the day? Singular claim to knowledge and thus, IPR? I think not, Ms. Stuart-Santiago.
im not saying ako lang ang nakabasa o nakaalam, pero yung ibang nakabasa at nakakaalam noon, did they spread the word in any way (other than word of mouth to limited audiences) so that nalaman na rin ng milyon-milyong pilipino bago nila napanoood ang docu? even i wouldnt say that of my books. alam kong maraming hindi nagbasa ng himagsikan kasi hindi daw sila nagbabasa ng tagalog. of course there’s also my english chronology of a revolution, na coffee table book type naman, so rather expensive, so limited din ang readership.
cecilio arillo’s book was a “snap book” published in may 1986, all about enrile’s and RAM’S version of the story. did not mention cory except once and only in reference to cory aquino for president movement. one sentence. mercado’s book was a photo-history. i didn’t get too many what-who-where-what-time data from that. tatad’s book, correct me if im wrong, was post edsa dos. and how many people read tatad? and how many of the millions who watched the docu read at all ba.
pahabol. arillo’s book denied the coup plot by enrile and RAM (that enrile admitted only in 2000, have yet to hear from honasan), as tho they defected out of the goodness of their hearts. how credible is that. and oh yes he has a version of the landing of choppers in crame on day 3. medyo iba ang details from the version in my book. why didn’t they use that instead? english kasi? isasalin pa nila sa tagalog? trabahong tamad?
*nods in agreement*
PhilManila,
Just a point.
I think that at FV, we deem ourselves associates, not one is primus inter pares nor should even have to recite the apologist’s verse.
I don’t mean to offend but while one angela has been given the opportunity as FV may allow to buttress a claim on a subject of so much historical significance, those who might feel or think the claim to be rather ambiguous, must also have all the opportunity to drive a point.
Critical thought is the name of the game.
Good day phil! Sometimes, Philippines and Manila don’t mean the same way, do they?
a comment by kbc over @stuartsantiago.com:
Is It Plagiarism? Brief analysis of probability.
[my note: of course, this is for the English language, the stats may be different for Filipino, but you get the point]
According to the site WordOrigins.Org (http://www.wordorigins.org/number.htm), there are about 20,000 English words that are used by educated persons. Accidentally Matching 5 Words is “Hitting the Lottery” Twice and then a Hole-In-One In creating an original sentence, and assuming that the writer is free to choose any of the 20,000 words and use these words in any order, a series of 5 words that exactly match another source would have the “random chance” probability of(1/20000) x (1/20000) x (1/20000) x (1/20000) x (1/20000) or 1 chance in 3,200,000,000,000,000,000,000 (one chance in 3.2 sexillion). For the purposes of this illustration, we are ignoring common syntax rules such as the article of “a” or “an” isdependent upon the word that follows.This “accidental match” is far less likely than hitting the PowerBall Jackpot twice in a row. PowerBall uses 55 numbered balls, of which 5 are picked in random, and then a separate red “PowerBall” is randomly picked from a set of 42 numbered balls. Correctly selecting the 5 lottery balls and the one PowerBall is one chance in 146,107,962.The odds of hitting the jackpot twice in a row would be 1 in {146,107,962 * 146,107,962}, or 1 chance in 21,347,536,559,793,444. Taking 3,200,000,000,000,000,000,000 and dividing it by 21,347,536,559,793,444 leaves you with a remainder of 149,900. According to the National Hole-In-One Association, the odds of hitting a hole-in-one, even if you are an amateur, is 1 in 33,000. So, you could hit the lottery jackpot twice in a row and still have the “odds” left over to hit a hole-in-one while golfing, and that is still LESS LIKELY than accidentally matching the same 5 words as another source. Smaller Dictionaries Even if we assume that we are using a smaller subset of the language, which might be the 1000 most common words a person knows, the chance of picking in exact order the same 5 words as another writer would be (1/1000) x (1/1000) x (1/1000) x (1/1000) x (1/1000) or only 1 chance in 1,000,000,000,000,000 (one in a quadrillian). Giving a writer a maximum benefit of doubt, given that writing in a particular field might yield a smaller subset ofwords, if we reduce the vocabulary list to only 50 distinct words, the chance that a writer will pick exactly the same 5 words in a phrase are:(1/50) x (1/50) x (1/50) x (1/50) x (1/50) or 1 chance in 312,500,000 (one chance in 312-million). Of course, the chances of accidental matches to another writer’s work are geometrically smaller the longer the listof words (for instance, a sequential match of 10 words with a vocabulary of 50 items would only occur by chance 1 in 97,656,250,000,000,000 times).
Asummed Plagiarism Although a single set match might occur by “chance” once in a paper, when multiple sentences have matching word orders (and these phrases have not been cited as originating from another source), the assumption can be that plagiarism has occurred (or at the least, that sources were not properly cited). A commercial site that allows educators to analyze the contents of student papers can be found at: http://www.turnitin.com.
To read more please check out the site at:
http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache%3AZyj4eJRusB8J%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fsctc.ims.mnscu.edu%2Fshared%2FFacultyTutorials%2FMathematicsOfPlagiarism.pdf+plagiraism+probabilty+of+exact+words&hl=en
wow, I’m going to ask Felix Muga about this, he’s much more into math than I am, but I’m sure, even without such mathematical analysis, going by qualitative comparison is enough of a basis for concern..
say hi to felix. tell him karen (his FB friend) posted it. i’d really like to know how sound the math is. :) but you are right, one can determine it even without the math, if one know show to do so. it’s just amazing how few people actually understand plagiarism. it’s one of the most fun things to teach to freshmen students.
there are many stylometry programs available in the net to detect plagiarism.
Just to quickly bottomline – where is angela those days in February of 1986 to be able to speak from the vantage point of authority?
I have a feeling she advances a desire to be acknowledged as having written the more correct historical account sweeping all other accounts that have been written on EDSA.
The body of literature is limited. Many other people have not really told their own individual accounts.
And the not too few officers and enlisted personnel including civilians who defected to EDSA those turning points in history have not even acknowledged yet in any appropriate ceremony for the purpose.
There is supposed to be a general or special order issued by GHQ naming our EDSA 86 participants. If we can reward with foolish promotion those 4 Honor Guards for standing so many hours as vigil to Cory in a slow-moving flatbed truck along the procession rites, with more reason that we in fact renumerate with awesome amounts of incentives those who cordone Enrile and Ramos against the possible assault from the Marcos camp.
Well, there are just a lot of other things that any work in history cannot possibly capture. It’s just my point.
Dear Angela,
Have you raised your complaint to ABS-CBN? If so, what was their reply, if any?
Dean de la Paz
hello dean de la paz. received email from maria ressa morning of aug 13. she had read my blog post, she had started an investigation. nothing since. the case is now in the hands of my lawyer.
Dear Angela,
That’s good. The fact that you took it to court, whether it comes out positive or negative for you, should keep them on their toes, somewhat. Same with the blogging so that this is not done in isolation.
Ressa has fired people for less and I spoke to her once about the conduct of her people. Davila though, is considered a superstar. Rich kid, rich husband. Personally close to the Aquinos and well-connected. Mustn’t expect much.
I agree with most observations that the incidents can be shared experiences but as I’ve read the side-by-side narrations, there is more than coincidental congruity even in the prose, the arrangement of words and thought, as well as the specific perspectives. That is why I was attracted to the math you presented.
By the way, this would not be the first that the personages you mentioned were involved in ethical controversies.
Dean