TOKYO — The Japanese newspaper company Sankei Shimbun Co. stated on December 2 that it had copied five articles from other organizations on its online platform, “Emogram.”
Sankei refers to Emogram as a media platform that examines online responses, including those from social media, regarding current issues. The stolen articles were authored by a worker from a temporary staffing company. While composing pieces that highlight reactions to other companies’ reports, the employee reportedly took the content and only altered the concluding phrases of sentences. Sankei removed all the articles and issued an apology to the original publishers.
On November 26, an outside entity brought attention to an article that was suspected of being plagiarized, leading to an inquiry. The author acknowledged the wrongdoing and confessed to copying four additional articles from sources such as the websites of Sponichi Annex and The Yomiuri Shimbun. A desk editor had reviewed the articles but did not detect the plagiarism.
The public relations team of Sankei blamed the problem on a lack of understanding regarding copyright, stating, “We will improve training and education for writers and desk editors.”
