Dear Readers,
As the fourth issue goes to press, we’d like bring to your attention some good tidings and some worrisome ones.
At Citizen Matters, we have always believed in the power of editorial work that combines professional journalism with citizen journalism. In Supriya Khandekar and Vaishnavi Vittal, we have two staff journalists who are both talented and committed to bringing you interesting and insightful stories from around our city. Do look out for their ‘In focus’ pieces, as well their community writing and guides and primers.
And equally, we have been very fortunate to continue to run into a stream of Bangaloreans who have taken on our citizen journalism invitations and responded with article after article of useful and informative experiences. This week, we present citizens D R Prakash of Ulsoor and Arathi Manay Yajaman of JP Nagar.
Arathi tells us how her flat community at Brigade Millennium has setup a waste sorting and disposal system with wide participation from adults, children, maids, housekeeping staff and security guards. D R Prakash sent us a very useful property tax guide published last fortnight (page 8, Vol 1 issue 3) to which many Bangaloreans appreciated and responded to with questions! Prakash has since responded to readers, see the interaction under Article 823 for more.
On a more worrisome note, Citizen Matters is bringing to your attention another instance of plagiarism of our articles. In the March 7 issue of Dainik Jagran’s Sarjapur Road City Plus, we were shocked to find that page 3 was carrying a reproduction of a recent Citizen Matters article on property tax. The article claims that the content was received from a residents association, but neither the author, nor the organisation have been named.
We have since notified their publisher N Sekar and are initiating legal action. Last year, in February, the City Plus’ Koramangala edition committed a similar act of plagiarism which their editor Sapna Khanna subsequently admitted to. We had issued them a cease-and-desist notice.
Plagiarism is a reality that we face every day; Citizen Matters is unmatched in the sheer quality and consistency of fresh local reportage and analysis. To act against such copy-pasters, be they from large media houses or otherwise, we will need your support. Needless to say, we will keep you posted!
Best Regds, Subbu Vincent
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