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Watterson presents at AEJMC meeting
Jan 5, 2006 4:16 PM
By Tannika King - Faculty
Dr. Bruce Watterson, chief communications officer at Darlington School, participated on two panels for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s (AEJMC) Mid-Winter meeting at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., Jan. 7 and 8.
Primarily speaking on behalf of educators, Watterson joined colleagues from Michigan State, Kent State, the University of Minnesota as well as national press association executive directors as part of two panels. “Legal Issues Facing Journalists” was moderated by Dr. John Bowen, professor of journalism at Kent State.
“Watterson discussed plagiarism and the risk of plagiarism in collegiate and scholastic publications,” said Bowen. “Plagiarism may be knowingly done through intentional copying of a piece or it may also be done by careless mixing of original and copied materials. Watterson detailed how to properly acknowledge material used with and without permission.”
Immediately following that discussion, Watterson joined members of the professional print industry to describe current trends in newspapers, magazines and yearbooks on collegiate and scholastic campuses nationwide.
“We assembled a group of educators from across the country who are involved in setting the direction for the nation’s best student work,” said Cheryl Pell, professional journalist at Michigan State, Lansing. “Watterson has occupied a leadership role in press circles for over 30 years and coordinates the Crown judging for Columbia University in New York City. He distributed copies of a CD outlining the group’s winning entries in 2004, and described the purpose of critiquing and honoring these publications.”
Representing over 4,000 members of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, Watterson said, “One of our group’s primary goals in judging and critiquing student work is to promote good journalism. We believe part of learning good journalism is gaining the ability to spot and remove plagiarism during the editing process. Failing that, a good journalist should learn to acknowledge plagiarism promptly upon its discovery.
“As part of our judging standards, we will still consider publications with plagiarism for awards only if editors and staffs have notified their readers of the plagiarism,” he continued. “It is certainly embarrassing to both the staff and advisers but it is important to be straightforward in acknowledging it. One person’s offense should never be considered damaging to other contributors. That would be unfair.”
A former college administrator and professor, Watterson is in his second year as an officer at Darlington. He holds advanced degrees in public relations as well as news/editorial journalism.
Primarily speaking on behalf of educators, Watterson joined colleagues from Michigan State, Kent State, the University of Minnesota as well as national press association executive directors as part of two panels. “Legal Issues Facing Journalists” was moderated by Dr. John Bowen, professor of journalism at Kent State.
“Watterson discussed plagiarism and the risk of plagiarism in collegiate and scholastic publications,” said Bowen. “Plagiarism may be knowingly done through intentional copying of a piece or it may also be done by careless mixing of original and copied materials. Watterson detailed how to properly acknowledge material used with and without permission.”
Immediately following that discussion, Watterson joined members of the professional print industry to describe current trends in newspapers, magazines and yearbooks on collegiate and scholastic campuses nationwide.
“We assembled a group of educators from across the country who are involved in setting the direction for the nation’s best student work,” said Cheryl Pell, professional journalist at Michigan State, Lansing. “Watterson has occupied a leadership role in press circles for over 30 years and coordinates the Crown judging for Columbia University in New York City. He distributed copies of a CD outlining the group’s winning entries in 2004, and described the purpose of critiquing and honoring these publications.”
Representing over 4,000 members of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, Watterson said, “One of our group’s primary goals in judging and critiquing student work is to promote good journalism. We believe part of learning good journalism is gaining the ability to spot and remove plagiarism during the editing process. Failing that, a good journalist should learn to acknowledge plagiarism promptly upon its discovery.
“As part of our judging standards, we will still consider publications with plagiarism for awards only if editors and staffs have notified their readers of the plagiarism,” he continued. “It is certainly embarrassing to both the staff and advisers but it is important to be straightforward in acknowledging it. One person’s offense should never be considered damaging to other contributors. That would be unfair.”
A former college administrator and professor, Watterson is in his second year as an officer at Darlington. He holds advanced degrees in public relations as well as news/editorial journalism.
