Bernama faces plagiarism accusation

The Jakarta Globe has called Malaysia’s news outlet Bernama out on the basis of plagiarism. The Indonesian paper said that Bernama copied two articles which was originally written by their own journalists.In a post on its website, the Jakarta Globe accuses the Malaysian news site for printing articles “word for word”.  In the article, The Jakarta Globe cites that on 5 July it published an article on its website titled “In Closing Debate, Joko Promises Bureaucratic ‘Breakthrough,’ While Prabowo Strives for ‘A Dignified Nation.”Just a day later Bernama apparently picked up the article and published it with the headline: “Joko Promises Bureaucratic ‘Breakthrough,’ While Prabowo Strives for ‘A Dignified Nation.’” The accused Bernama then removed the names of the reporter and replaced it with the name of its own journalist, Elmi Rizal Alias.A similar occurrence was also seen for another article printed on 1 July. While The Jakarta Globe claims to have made numerous attempts to contact Bernama, it was unable to reach the news agency.According to the Malaysia Chronicle, Bernama has admitted that plagiarism could have been at play. Bernama editor-in-chief Zulkefli Salleh however told Malaysiakini that the reporter accused of plagiarism had attributed the articles to Jakarta Globe.