Couldn't help but shake my head at this blatant content theft by supposedly reliable media house, too bad. This must be frowned at seriously!



An article titled "Nigerian Celebrities Whose Marriages Have Stood The Test Of Time" with link http://www.tutubranch.com/2013/08/celebrities-with-lasting-marriages.html was seen on another site, INFORMATION NIGERIA, with same caption http://www.informationng.com/2013/08/nigerian-celebrities-whose-marriages-have-stood-the-test-of-time.html as written by one Tolu

The article which was published on our site on Friday, 2nd of this month is www.tutubranch.com's original content but the article was sighted on their site
later without reference or acknowledgment to its source or author. You will agree with me that this is plagiarism. It was copied with exact content and pictures- word for word and image for image!

As the Chief Editor of www.tutubrtanch.com, I wrote a letter to them demanding an apology, specifically stating that: “We do not have issues with you appreciating our works but we hope your lofty organization can express more dignity in future”. This E-mail that was sent to them was not replied. Likewise, tags and tweets sent to @infonaija on twitter were shunned.

This is gross disrespect and lack of value for other people’s intellectual contents. I used to have so much respect for this website and was one of the very first people who sent links from their site to friends and colleagues before commencing work on www.tutubranch.com. Even when the owner was nominated for the Future Awards, I was one of the very first who congratulated him on-line despite the fact that I do not know him personally.

Nairaland is one of the best platforms on-line whereby one’s write-ups and sites are acknowledged; which is why a lot of Nigerian Bloggers and music sites choose to post their contents and links. The moderators will not only publish such articles; they would also move them to the front-page if it is “front-page worthy”. Also, they will boldly include the name of the site and the “click-able” back-link to it. Now, that’s fantastic, despite the fact that the site is a forum!

You will agree with me (for some of us who have on-line platforms) that building an online platform is challenging and tedious with time, resources, electricity, internet connection and communication posing itself as one of the greatest challenges. Being a young Nigerian Corps member, these challenges are further heightened by the near-rural setting in Niger State where I found myself contributing my quota in my Place of Primary Assignment (PPA). Yet, is it not better to do something worthwhile with what I have passion for as a Mass Communicator than to engage myself in “no-gloryfing” activities?

With bloggers and on-line writers like Linda Ikeji, Gistyinka, Ladun Liadi, Kemi Filani, Laila Ikeji and so on borrowing information from each other and editing them properly, it is rather ridiculous that a site which claims to be No 1 information site in Nigeria will just pull original content from another site, copy and paste it without any sort of referencing. We respect some of the most powerful media brands like Vangurd, Punch, Guardian, Thisday, Complete Sports, Encomium, City People and few others who are the usual go-to in term of authentic information and content. And so, despite re-writing their content, we still deem it fit to also acknowledge them in our write ups.

This niche is true, “Content owner is king and it’s good to pay due acknowledgement to who deserves it”.


http://www.tutubranch.com/2013/08/information-nigeria-intellectual-theft.html

Too bad! Front page tinz!!