This article was really interesting, and it made me ask questions that I just simply can't find the answer for. Why did John Merrill steal those quotes?? First, I thought he was a loser and he needed last minute quotes. But then I read that he was 80 something years old and a real pro, so I had to drop this explanation.
Then, I figured he was lazy, and it was easier to lift those quotes. But no... that's not what such a guy would do. So the next thing that came into my mind was that he must think that just because he's a famous journalist, he can just take the quotes from the little journalism student. And then I read his argument that he views quotes as public property, which just added to my confusion.
So, these are my finalized thoughts on the question:
1. Quotes are not public property, only people are who give the quotes. Getting quotes is a journalist's job, so stealing equals to not doing your job.
2. Journalists should be humble. If a journalist has anything to write, that's not because he or she's sooo damn good but because some nice people devoted minutes or even hours of their lives to talk to the journalist. I think this is what Merrill forgot.
When I read Merrill's answer to the claims, I got sort of disgusted. He started the article with his resume!! "I did this and that, I've been a journalist for 60 years, I'm so awesome, I have the right to do anything, and anyways, I stand so much above all of you people. Oh, and I stole only quotes because my writing is so much better than anyone else's." Well, after this "theme paragraph," I decided that this guy was not only guilty in plagiarism but he was also a terrible terrible person and I'm not sorry for him at all!!
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