He adds that from 1927, when it first adopted a code of ethics, until 1984 the Society of Professional Journalists had no written rule against plagiarism. Media has become more sensitive to ethical problems than they were 10 or 20 years ago according to Fred Brown, chairman of the Society of Professional journalists' ethics committee and the Denver Post's Capitol bureau chief. Editors and readers have a new tool as they monitor journalists. Philip Meyer said that people use the Internet to search and compare as they research because they are not content with a single source. They can find similarities in the work of different authors.
Technology helps information break out of once-closed networks.
Online archives make it possible to look at information published months, even years ago. Too often, standards of ethical conduct are taken for granted. Everyone is expected to know and adhere to them, but they rarely are part of daily conversations. In many cases, the Internet distributes a dose of public embarrassment for the accused. As journalists and editors scramble in the storm of a plagiarism accusation, the story is public in record speed.