Both were articles about two women- one had broken up with the boyfriend- Peter Andre to be specific while the other was apparently on the verge of a collapsed relationship.
I was shocked to find out that both stories carried the same quotes from the ‘heart-broken’ ladies.
Since am well versed with the works of the Red Pepper, i immediately knew it was them who copied the quotes and not the US website.
Why? This tabloid like many others in this world is know for fabricating anything. it has a team of ‘creative journalists’ who can come up with an article just by imagining things.
I was really disappointed that they could go to such lengths.

This is how it goes;
From Yasmos Entertainment site- the title was:
Jordan: Pete’s kicked me where it hurts, the wallet

“DESOLATE Jordan is going off the rails – as the stress of her divorce from Peter Andre takes its toll, her friends revealed.
She is exhausted from lack of sleep, not eating properly – and has also hit the bottle in a bid to numb the pain of the separation.
The model has also been lashing out at those around her as she accuses Peter of trying to ruin her career.
Pals say she is in “complete meltdown” with one friend revealing last night: “Katie’s hit rock bottom. She doesn’t know what to do with herself.
“Her behaviour is all over the place. She’s been sobbing, trying to call Peter and attacking anyone she can. Her friends are worried she’s drinking too much.”
But the friend insisted: “She’s going to come back from this.
“I have never seen her so determined. She likes a fight and she wants to beat him.”
Her determination was underlined when Jordan – who has a £40million fortune – told another pal: “Peter’s desperate. He’s trying to kick me where it hurts – my wallet. But I’m not going to let him destroy me.”
But today the News of the World can also reveal how Jordan:

* Takes SLEEPING PILLS and gets DRUNK to ease her heartbreak over the split.
* NIBBLES on biscuits instead of eating meals as friends worry she is becoming too thin.
* Flies into RAGES when Peter refuses to pick up the phone when she calls during moments of weakness.
* Has turned on a close friend of the couple, BLAMING her for coming between them and trying to WRECK their marriage.
* Wants to DITCH her squeaky-clean Katie Price image and bring back her NAUGHTY Jordan alter-ego.

The article goes on….

From the Ugandan based Red Pepper came a headline:

LUZINDA, FIANCEE SPLIT OVER mayor. The story goes:

GORGEOUS DESIRE Luzinda has sensationally split with her fiancé Engineer Ken Ntaro, we can reliably reveal….
…But Desire Luzinda is going off the rails – as the stress of her split with Engineer Ken Ntaro takes its toll, her friends revealed last night. She is exhausted from lack of sleep, not eating properly – and has also hit the bottle in a bid to numb the pain of the separation. The singer has also been lashing out at those around her as she accuses Ken of pushing her too much. Pals say she is in “complete meltdown” with one friend revealing last night: “Desire has hit rock bottom. She does not know what to do with herself. “Her behaviour is all over the place. She has been sobbing, trying to call Ken and attacking anyone she can. Her friends are worried she is even drinking too much.”

But the friend insisted: “She is going to come back from this. I have never seen her so determined. She likes a fight and she wants to forget him…

But today Red Pepper can also reveal how Desire:
-Takes SLEEPING PILLS and gets DRUNK to ease her heartbreak over the split.
-NIBBLES on biscuits instead of eating meals as friends worry she is becoming too thin.
-Flies into RAGES when Ken refuses to pick up the phone when she calls during moments of weakness.
-Has turned on a close friend of the couple, BLAMING her for coming between them and trying to WRECK their relationship.
-Wants to DITCH her squeaky-clean image and bring back her NAUGHTY Desire alter-ego that led to her falling out of her Makerere University economics course.

Wouldn’t you call this a super case of online plagiarism? There are so many ways one can track their artcile online but still it is a big WWW and you it would not be that easy.
While i was pursuing my degree in Mass Communication a few years back, i focused my dissertation on plagiarism in the Ugandan media and found a few cases.

Many journalists do not want to attribute information they pick from the internet.
Just recently, a colleague of mine at work almost got fired after he used huge chunks of information from a website and did not bother to attribute. The editor of the website wrote back complaining.

While many think that the internet is ‘too big’ there are people out there who still take time and smoke out such people.

I was a health journalist before I joined the desk but after attending the course in Berlin last year, I knew exactly where I wanted to be. This is where I belong- in the online world.

I am not going to use the excuse of collapsing newspapers to explain my change in heart because by the time I made up my mind, I didn’t care the global crisis.

I have now entered the world of online journalism and every day, I can see Jan Persiel and Peter Berger, our former lectures introducing us to the whole concept of online journalism, I can never forget how excited I was. I can still hear the twitter lecture, how Ulf taught us about podcasting.

Today, I wake up every morning, looking forward to my new job. I am not saying I hated the previous one. This one is just too exciting.

While it is all exciting, the task ahead of me is not that simple. Editing print stories to fit the online mode of storytelling is never easy. Feeding the website with fresh articles has not been easy because I work in a traditional newsroom where everyone is more concerned about tomorrow’s edition rather than what is happening there and then. I am trying to get people to understand the values of online news especially timeliness. Most of the times, I have to upload what is going to appear the next day in the print edition at the end of the day.

And now it befits the whole purpose of online news. And it’s even harder given that my news paper has launched the digital paper, where you can see the newspaper online as it appears in print. http://epaper.monitor.co.ug

Now the question is why would anyone buy the paper, then go to the online version and then bother with the digital paper? This is why I have to get original content for the online edition- am working that out.

Every day, I have to check Google to make sure that our stories are ranked first. This is when I remember the concept of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) but I am still working on this.

Moderating people’s comments online while easy can be so hard sometimes especially if people use the unacceptable language and then later complain that while you promote freedom of speech, you are censoring them.

Also, given our limited internet speed, I guess I won’t be uploading any videos or audio anytime soon. But am guessing that in the near future, it will be possible when we do upgrade our system.

Colleagues, as per now, that’s all I can feed you with given the fact that reading a lot of stuff online can be annoying. I will stop here.

I promise to keep updating you on how I am progressing.

Can I have this? My sister is always asking. I should have sent you for this, I wanted a pocket knife, how much was this and that, an endless list of questions. But still, I don’t mind them. I haven’t seen my favorite people in a while and I don’t mind the constant niggling.

At the workplace, things are no different. It is a tradition to carry sweets for the office when coming from the ‘outside countries’ as many Ugandans love to say.
Comments and inquiries keep flying from all directions. ‘You look lighter. You have gained weight. You have lost weight. You look good. Do you have a German boy friend? Why didn’t you stay in Germany? Do you speak German? Blah, Blah.

Well, to shush people, I decided to distribute the sweets. Now all I am hearing is ‘Thank you Grace’ and of course, I am loving it.
Strangely, I have been receiving hugs from people I never thought I would ever hug. I guess people miss you a lot after two months even when all you would say to each other was ‘hi’ before you left.
While I am happy to be back, I can’t help worrying about the messiness and chaos in our city. Am now treading on roads where small inches of tarmac are visible of each road. A place where traffic jams are like routine and no train services like in Berlin.

The dust is everywhere. The road that leads to my home is in worse condition than I left it in. Apart from being dusty, it is also unlevelled. While seated in a taxi (which is in form of a van here), you have to hold onto anything your hand can grab lest you risk falling off your seat as the taxi driver tries to manoeuvre the hill-like mounds in the road.

With one hand holding onto something, the other has to keep a handkerchief on your nose to prevent the dust from irritating your nostrils.
I guess it’s going to take another one week before I settle in and stop complaining about the dust, the chaos and so many other things that I am yet to complain about.