It will come as no surprise to anyone who has ever glanced at my blog that my next rantathon will be directed, once again, at the GDN. Why? Well, a few months ago I remember glancing at a car review, by the 'Voice of Bahrain's' very own Mandeep Singh. It was oddly familiar, yet the prose was inconsistent. And then I realised why. I'd read most of it online. Not on the GDN's atrocious excuse for a website, nooooo.... somewhere else entirely. After a brief consultation with my old pal google, Mr. Mandeep's plagiarism was glaringly obvious. The car in question was a Bentley, and for any doubters, naysayers or GDN-lovers, I provide links - one of which required digging into the GDN's archives. You're welcome. But first, let's compare one passage of these reviews...
From the GDN:
Putting all the hand-hewn grunt to the pavement is a seamless all-wheel-drive system with a 40:60 front-to-rear torque bias. As impressive as the drive train is, it pales in comparison to its ceramic rotors the size of a large party platter and eight-piston calipers to virtually pull your eyeballs from their sockets the second you step on the brake pedal.
From popularmechanics.com:
Putting all the hand-hewn grunt to the pavement is a seamless all-wheel-drive system with a 40:60 front-to-rear torque bias. As impressive as the drivetrain is, it pales in comparison to the Supersports' brake system. The car uses ceramic rotors the size of a large party platter (16.5 inches) and eight-piston calipers to pull your eyeballs from their sockets the second you step on the left pedal.
See what Mandeep did there? He dropped a few words - 'the Supersports' brake system. The car uses' - and a measurement - '(16.5 inches)' - and presto! Original content is born!
The reviews in full. Spot the differences:
Anyway... a recent bout of curiosity got me a-thinkin that this might not have been an isolated incident. So I decided to ask uncle Google a few more questions, and lo and behold, I found me (quite easily) a couple more examples of cut-'n-paste-itis. All courtesy of the same Mr. Mandeep Singh. All car reviews, because I have not the energy nor the inclination to look into his (or anyone else's) other bodies of work. Blatant plagiarism, passed off as objective opinion. In the first person. With a byline. The most recent of which dates back a whole, entire fortnight. And then, well, it gets a bit pathetic. I decided to compare reviews, line for line, word for word. Tedious, yes. But also, rather enlightening. The car in question this time was the Renault Koleos. A car I'd never heard of. Available from, as you'd expect, a beloved GDN advertiser... Y.K Almoayyed. Here is what I discovered:
Mandeep's review was 938 words long. Of his 938 words, 545 words were stolen from another review. Word for bloody word. The remaining 393 words might belong to Mr. Singh and the GDN, or they could've come from somewhere else entirely. 59% of the review was plagiarised. The other 41%, well, who fucking cares?
The Renault Koleos - Compare and contrast:
Now, while Mandeep is clearly at fault, surely someone else somewhere in the editorial department should have at least raised an eyebrow? Yeah, I'm talking to you Les. And you George. And whoever else there is pulling the strings at that dismal excuse for a news organisation. Why would Mandeep bother trying when he knows he can just get by with a little help from his internet? I probably wouldn't, though I don't claim to be a bastion of integrity, journalistic or otherwise. Neither, for that matter, does the GDN - but only because they'd have to actually write something ORIGINAL to do so.
It makes me wonder... does Mandeep actually test drive the vehicles in question? Perhaps he just borrows the cars to nip to the shops with his homies on weekends and then nabs a bit of text to pretend he knows what he's talking about. If that's the case, surely the PR guys at just about every dealership in Bahrain are feeling a bit ripped off? Nah, that'd presume PR folk knew a thing or two about a thing or two, which they don't.
I know he did drive the Bentley, because I was there when he did. I was there when his photographer had the audacity to attempt to push Mr. Singh to the front of the queue because he was so very 'busy'. Seriously. I have witnesses. So busy that he couldn't string a bunch of words together all by his lonesome, despite the fact that, well, ITS HIS JOB. Arrogance and plagiarism make a really ugly cocktail, known to the masses as the GDN. Whether this word-heist is legally actionable or not I do not know. Nor do I really care. I just wanted to prove a point.
I am aware that the majority of content is sourced from news wires, press releases and advertisements, so in terms of actual writing, there is precious little for our esteemed journalists to actually do. Add to that the fact that the majority of local content is comprised of barely legible quotations from self-promoting imbeciles and you'd be forgiven for questioning whether the writing staff of the GDN actually do anything at all - aside of course from expressing their views in unfocussed, boring columns and strutting their journalistic stuff at every press conference kind enough to offer decent freebies.
What other content are they attempting to pass off as original? For all I know, my rant about Les Horton (see below) could've been misplaced... 'As I See It' could be the words of another inane journo-hack from another suitably dodgy tabloid, edited briefly to ensure a whiff of authenticity. I have a suggestion - sack the writing staff and just give Google a byline every now and then. Then Bahrain might not feel quite as ripped off.
One for the road (yeah, it's a pun. Deal with it) The Lincoln MKZ - Mix and match:
And before any random Anonymous folk start accusing me of having too much time on my hands let me be clear - I do. I have too much time on my hands. Sue me. Pity me. Envy me. Hate me. I don't care.
