Abstract
Central Asia has been generally omitted from most academic debates, including those on the causes and consequences of widespread plagiarism and copy-and-paste behaviour among journalists. In this article I address this problem by interviewing working journalists from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The article argues that plagiarism in journalism is not only thriving but also encouraged by a variety of mechanisms, such as the distribution of “ready-to-publish” media content by government press secretaries and encouragement for journalists to simply “add your name” to these materials. It finds that some journalists are proud of the fact that others plagiarise their work, saying “it indicates we are doing a superior job”, which in turn encourages further copyright breaches within the profession. This is significant, because students and early career journalists may witness such practices and conclude that plagiarism is a norm and that is how it should be, thus creating a false “model of excellence” for future journalists and the public. The results are also discussed in relation to agenda-setting theory, whereby governments predominantly control media outlets. In such a context, the public may end up only having access to news that is subsidised and approved by their governments.