Self-publishing media should not be allowed act with impunity

An article titled Officials' Persecution of Reporters Makes Gansu a Media Black Hole (Chinese: Gan Chai Lie Huo) recently trended on WeChat, having been posted by a self-publishing media account.

Incorporating Gansu officials' crackdown on local reporters with the same officials' downfall in anti-corruption campaigns, the article became an instant hit.

Yet similar to a number of articles on WeChat, like for example articles calling for charitable donations that turn out to be fraudulent, this piece has been shown to be problematic.

The problem lies in its reproduction of already published reports from traditional news outlets, including reports originally published by business news site Caixin. This reproduction has sparked allegations of plagiarism from one of the outlet's reporters.

Self-publishing media accounts – independent social media accounts run primarily by individual users – don't typically enjoy the right of publishing news under China's laws. A significant number of these accounts has begun quoting reports from traditional news outlets, while using more emotive language than the originals.

They do this in an effort to circumvent the country's publishing laws, and have done so with success.

The line separating plagiarism and quotation can often be fine, particularly with news reports, which are not protected by copyright law, so as to help foster the exchange of information.

If self-published media reports are based on previously published articles but don't quote paragraphs of text verbatim and feature new information or analysis, legally, they aren't examples of plagiarism.

Such articles could nonetheless be considered to be taking advantage of established media organizations.

When considering the case of Caixin, we encounter a number of ethical dilemmas. Today original interviews have become increasingly valuable, and traditional news outlets allocate to them considerable resources.

While these outlets don't have the monopoly right to the facts they publish, they are perhaps entitled to some sort of compensation for their reproduction. New industry regulations could help clarify a number of issues and provide a framework for the future development of self-publishing and traditional media alike.

Those found guilty of plagiarism meanwhile should be punished severely, with the aim of protecting authors' and reporters' intellectual property rights, while establishing an environment that respects and values original reporting.

All in all, the self-publshing media should not be allowed to operate outside the law, or bend the law to its advantage.

The author is a professor of law at the Communication University of China.