This is bogus. Someone should send a email back to that reporter and demand an apology for taking credit for an article he did not write. Stealing other people's work is commonplace in China. To them, there are no rights to the creator. We create it. They steal it. Anyone who has ever done business there knows what Im talking about. They are crooks. Illegal software, movies, trademark violations. You name it, they'll do it.
If the foreign software and game developers are kind enough to lower their prices in poorer countries like China, many people would want to buy the original ones. It makes no sense when you are earning 25% of income of Americans and still pay the same. It's wrong to steal, it's also wrong to rip people off. These exposures of Chinese journalism show the capitalization of the media and the lack of media control will lead to weak journalistics morals, exactly what is happening all over the world.
Is China officially in the World Trade Organization yet? One would hope they'd crack down on the piracy ring... Plagarism should be in every journalist's list of standards. The thing that bugs me the most is that the "journalist" aka "English translator" gets paid for writing an "original" article. He'd probably get less money for crediting source sites. I hope he gets fired once the editor realizes that anyone in their staff with a middle school level of English can "report" these articles and realizes he's overpaying this fraud.
Is that why Napster got shut down? Well, I use peer sharing programs written and used by Americans to download songs, books, movies and even programs with my broadband connection. Anyone cares to explain why duplicate and distribution without permission is not copyright infringement?
If this is going to go from a discussion of Clutch getting ripped off, to a discussion of China ripping off the World via copyright infringement, maybe it belongs in Hangout.
Please don't make this thread into a very "political" thread. Anyway, Shi Cheng's behaviour is totally wrong. As I mentioned before, he/she should at least indicate that (this is) "from American press".
I don't know the specifics of your "peer sharing program". However copying other people's ideas for commerical use without their permission is stealing. That is exactly why Napster was shut down It's one thing to buy a copy of a CD and make a duplicate for yourself. It's another to be selling it on the streets for $1 for which the creators receive no royalties for the work theyve created. As far as making it cheaper for poorer countries. That's negotiation that should be made amongst the parties. However to justify stealing it just because its too expensive is no excuse. This is the logical flaw used to rationalize what is otherwise downright thievery. Why do you steal? Because Im poor. Do all poor people steal? No. Then why do you steal?
Windandsea, Again, thanks for being our overseas "eyes and ears." Could you tell us, What kind of laws do the Chinese have against plagiarism (theft of another writer's work)? If they have laws, do they enforce them? Because this is just wrong. Of course, we're talking about a website; but how would this writer in China have access to T-Mo and Eddie Griffin? Obviously he wouldn't. Do you know how other fans/readers of the website you have mentioned feel about what this writer is doing? (You may have no idea. I'm just curious.)
Windandsea - you shouldn't have even brought this subject up. Most Americans don't even realize how differently the Chinese play the game. As you can see you have set many of them off. I myself am not suprised. I would also think the some Chinese readers would know that this artice is copied from America because it says "tell reporter" instead of giving his/her name.
Maybe I am wrong. As micah1j said, I shouldn't have opened this thread. I was angry when I saw this report at sina.com because Clutch bought the flight to watch SL and made the chance to interview these two players. He should be given the credit of his work. But I have to admit that when people began to criticize China and Chinese, I feel very sad too. I think you guys can understand my feeling.
I hope you guys don't develope a generally bad view of Chinese people because of this. Chinese people in general are very hard working and have high moral standards. Please don't let idiots like "Shi Cheng" change your views.
Thanks for keeping us informed, windandsea. You are REALLY appreciated by us here. You're a member of our family. Clutch is the patriarch, so to speak, of the BBS family here, so we're a bit sensitive about him getting the respect he deserves. Clearly, you are concerned as well. The politics should be in Hangout. Thanks again.
Not to defend this practice or anything, but this is actually quite a common practice in journalism at least in the part of Chinese world I'm from (Taiwan). I don't know how it is in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia or China, but I guess the situation would be similar. Reporters would take articles (sometimes not even 'scoops') written by foreign (english, japanese, french, german, you name it!) authors in foreign press and translate word-for-word, and claim it as their own. Often without even mentioning the source. Ain't nobody enforcing journalism standards. Ain't nobody's gonna punish them for it. First off, I wonder if copyrights are still enforceable when the print is in a totally different language. Secondly, does copyrights (for said article in said news media) extend across borders (i.e. is it international?). And even if they do, 1) will people find out? 2) will people care? and 3) will people be punished? Frankly I have my doubts on all five points. There was a scandal and protest started by a rival paper just a couple of month ago when one of the leading columnists on the biggest newspaper in Taiwan printed a piece on some Japanese Festival which was obviously plagiarised from a Japanese paper. But this criticism was indicative of an EMERGING awareness of the baseness of such behavior, and proof of the existence of such a practice. The newspaper in question (and media friends of his terrible journalist) quickly came to the defense of their colleague and blanked it out. The same mainstream newspapers routinely print what is simply hearsay and even libel, (i.e. the president is having an affair with so-and-so!), based on the most circumstantial evidence and groundless rumour. When proven wrong, they don't get punished, they don't admit their mistake, they don't even apologise. They just print some new rumours... And this is in a country (Taiwan) where Press Freedoms and Journalistic practices is at least 20-30 years more advanced than China. In China's newpapers, they printed as truth the rumours that the US intentionally bombed their Embassy... They printed as fact a US spy plane 'intentionally' smashed into their jet fighter... They print that the Bosnian war the US fought was simply 'imperialistic bullying'... They printed that the US is hell-bent on oppressing China at any opportunity... And that's just being professional! You haven't seen them get emotional! (Check any article in which they demonize my homeland and people, Taiwan!)... Sina is actually one of the better sources of news, in that they have to cater to a US-based audience, and so have to present a slightly more moderate and rational view of affairs and have to maintain some of the better journalistic practices. Because contrary to something like the Xinhua agency, Sina is actually a listed US company, with US-based assets, and so can be sued by Americans. In that light, I hope some of you might be more understanding of what would seem like a terrible transgression. Just give them time to develop an educated audience who appreciates 'journalistic professionalism'... In many ways, they've already paid Clutchcity and Clutch their highest tribute... Cheers, Lil
Hey WS: Sorry to offend -- I would bet that the Yao Ming in Houston show will bring some cultural and political debate on these sorts of issues. I am quite excited by it -- learning about China and Chinese culutre via basketball is one of the reasons I was hopping with excitement when we got the #1 pick. Houstonians are lucky to have this sort of connection, as are we here at cc.net. You represent the first and best of these connections, so please understand that you -- and your country -- are valued greatly by the majority of folks on this board. If anyone speaks of your country with contempt -- please do not take it too seriously or at all personally. There will be some jokes, some debate, some misinformation, and undoubtedly some ignorant stuff posted her to be sure -- already has, in fact -- but that should just be growing pains toward better understanding and so forth. I hope you understand the respect and gratitude for a Chinese presence on this board. I can't speak for everyone, but those little glitches -- like someone horking Clutch's story -- are fascinating to me. Please forgive if jokes or debate sound unfriendly or disrespectful. You are doing us a bigger favor with your posts than you think. Thanks CBFC
No lil, you get it wrong. Stuffs like spy plane are not exactly free press, but sports news largely enjoys freedom of press. This is partly the reason that competitions are so fierce there. And in this arena, sina.com are one of the worst cases of unprofessional reporting. I will trust xinhua.net more 10 out of 10 cases. It takes responsible and educated audiances to make the journalism more professional. Here we agree.
Some fans posted Yao Ming's footage made by clutch on a Taiwan website. A basketball fan of Taiwan said on that website after he/she watched this footage "The people of (mainland of) China are disgusting. They were holding the photos of Chairman Mao in the game." At the end of that footage, after Ming shot to score, some fans did hold some pictures and cheered. I believe that anyone who has one ounce of brain cell or a little understanding to China will know that those pictures are photos of Ming or other players. Why does this young person in Taiwan still think the people of mainland of China hold Chairman Mao's photo at the basketball game? After the spy plane landed at Hainan, an American friend asked me :" Why does Chinese government hold those people on the plane? They are only seventeen or eighteen years old. They are still kids." I felt very guilty. I checked the list of those persons immediately. I didn't find any kids in that list. On the contrary, some of them are fathers of several kids. All of them are serving at military institutions. I brought these two examples out to let everybody know that: Not only Chinese media demonize Taiwan or USA. Many times, the media of other countries demonize China very much. That young Taiwanese and that American friend of mine are the victims of this demonetization, so are the people of the whole world.
"If there is to be a brave new world, our generation is going to have the hardest time living in it." --Gorkon Star Trek VI- The Undiscovered Country & DOC ROCKET 2002 <img src="http://www.filmfrontier.com/images/trek06_032.jpg" ...to boldly go where no Ming has gone before!
