News remains relevant for a very short period of time in the 21st century, making the work of journalists as demanding as ever. When you need to work under the pressure of tight deadlines, it is easy to skip the stage of checking your content for plagiarism.
However, it is a crucial part of the newsroom environment because articles that contain unattributed passages may result in low credibility and, in severe cases, public outrage.
It is vital to remember that accuracy and originality are the core of journalism. Plagiarism, in the news context, extends beyond simple word-for-word copying. It is about paraphrasing without attribution, the unauthorized use of data and images, and even the appropriation of another’s investigative work. Therefore, using reliable plagiarism detection tools like PlagiarismCheck helps to maintain journalistic integrity and ensures we all get the unique opinions of the best reporters. Let’s review some of the popular tools to make the process of choosing the most suitable detector easier.
Turnitin Feedback Studio (with Similarity Report)
If you are looking for a reliable tool with strong text similarity detection capabilities, this is it. Even though its primary function is to check academic texts, its Feedback Studio and the Similarity Report feature will come in handy in the newsroom settings. It’s a subscription-based tool, but the good news is that the prices vary according to the volume and features you need.
Let’s review its key features:
- Turnitin has a massive database of academic papers, web pages, and publications, ensuring thorough checks.
- The tool highlights matching text so that you can easily identify potential plagiarism.
- You can integrate the tool with different CMS to streamline the editorial workflow.
- Turnitin has recently added the ability to detect AI-generated text.
Why it’s great for newsrooms:
- Highly accurate results, which is a crucial point for maintaining journalistic integrity.
- The clear similarity highlighting and integration features save editors valuable time.
- AI detection is key in an age where AI-generated content is conquering more and more territories.
Copyscape
It’s a popular online plagiarism detection service that focuses on scanning web content. You can use a free version or choose a suitable subscription option according to the number of pages you check within a month.
Features you will benefit from:
- Easy to detect plagiarism from online sources.
- Allows you to check multiple pages simultaneously, which is ideal for large news websites.
- Provides automatic monitoring for new instances of plagiarism.
Why it’s great for newsrooms:
- Catches plagiarism from online sources, which is a major concern for digital news outlets.
- Batch search and Copysentry save time and effort.
- Relatively inexpensive.
Grammarly Premium/Business
If you have been in journalism for some time, you might have been using Grammarly to check your texts for grammar mistakes and improve the style of your writing. Now, you can also benefit from the Grammarly Premium and Business subscription options to spot plagiarized content.
The features you should be aware of:
- Compares text against a vast database of web pages and academic papers.
- Provides useful writing feedback and helps you improve overall content quality.
- May not be as robust as dedicated plagiarism detection tools for very in-depth investigations.
Why it’s great for newsrooms:
- Combines plagiarism detection with grammar and style checks to make your editing process less chaotic.
- Has a user-friendly interface and browser extensions that make it accessible for all journalists.
- Team management features help to ensure consistency across a large newsroom.
Quetext
It’s a plagiarism detection tool that uses DeepSearch technology to find contextual matches. You might not have heard about this tool before, as it is less well-known than some of the other resources, so its database size may be a concern for some. Quetext has a flexible pricing system and allows you to choose the option based on the number of words you need to check.
Its features include:
- The use of DeepSearch helps you analyze text contextually and find similarities beyond exact matches.
- Its color-coded analysis clearly highlights matching text and indicates the level of similarity.
- Has a relatively easy-to-use interface.
Why it’s great for newsrooms:
- Catches paraphrasing and subtle plagiarism, which can be difficult to detect with basic tools.
How to Choose the Right Tool for Your Newsroom
We’ve mentioned the most popular and helpful plagiarism checkers, but there are many more for you to explore. Moreover, the large number of checkers available might make the decision-making process time-consuming and exhausting. Here are some tips you can use to make the best possible choice.
Consider Newsroom Size and Budget
Small local news outlets with limited budgets may opt for cost-effective solutions like Copyscape or Grammarly Premium. On the other hand, if you are a part of a large national publication, your company can invest in more comprehensive tools like Turnitin Feedback Studio with advanced features and robust database access.
Rely on Your Specific Needs and Requirements
If you work in a newsroom that focuses on online content, you should prioritize tools with strong web-based detection capabilities, like Copyscape. Consequently, investigative journalism teams may require tools with advanced contextual analysis ( Quetext, for example) to identify subtle forms of plagiarism.
Check the Integration Options
Depending on what CMS your company is using, you can choose plagiarism checkers with seamless integration to improve the effectiveness of workflows and minimize disruptions. Note that tools that offer API access or plugins for popular CMS platforms can significantly improve efficiency.
Consider the Support for Multimedia
While most plagiarism detection tools focus on text, newsrooms that operate with multimedia content (images, videos, audio) may need additional tools to check for copyright infringement or unauthorized use. Look for tools that can at least check image metadata or provide integrations with image searching tools.
To Sum Up
There is no doubt that modern plagiarism detection tools are very helpful if you work in a newsroom. Nonetheless, we should all remember that they are not infallible and may generate false positives or miss subtle forms of plagiarism. Therefore, human judgment and editorial oversight remain essential, at least at this point in the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies.