The Voice of America is committed to ensure not only that plagiarism does not occur in any of its journalism, but also that any allegations of plagiarism are dealt with appropriately and consistently. To this end, an updated and enhanced plagiarism policy has been added to the VOA Best Practices Guide and distributed to all staff to ensure that everyone is aware of their obligations when a complaint of plagiarism is received.
VOA management sincerely regrets recent incidents which led to certain content being removed from agency websites and replaced with a notice acknowledging that plagiarism had occurred. That is why, in addition to updating the Best Practices Guide, an internal review is underway to assess the handling of this matter and to ensure that any future incidents will be dealt with promptly and appropriately.
Plagiarism is an extremely serious offense. Everyone at VOA is asked to not engage or tolerate plagiarism, but also to ensure that any future allegations are handled according to the enhanced VOA policy.
