Rinoa's Virtual Buzz

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, 2009 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.

"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."