Ing Magazine Apologizes in 5-Point Font

By Spartan Edge editorial board

When we opened ing Magazine’s latest issue to see if publisher Adam Grant had given us the apology we requested for plagiarizing one of our stories, we didn’t see it at first.

We flipped through the pages, wondering if we were going to have to berate ing yet again for questionable acts of journalism. But then we found it. Not in Grant’s big personal note labeled “Contributors” – which, coincidentally, isn’t about ing’s contributors – but in a box on the table of contents page.

The only problem was that we had to squint really hard to see it. Yes, Grant had given us an apology, but we think he used size-5 font to do so. We missed it even when we were looking for it; we’re wondering how many others bothered to put on their reading glasses.

This isn’t the first time we’ve been peeved about something ing Magazine has printed. In January, ing published a story about drinking games that was originally published, word-for-word, in Spartan Edge back in October. The story did not give any credit to our writer, and the layout was almost exactly the same.

After launching an investigation into ing’s editorial system, we found what could be nicely termed a royal mess. And this new issue of the magazine only proves that nothing has changed.

The new issue is titled, “Questioning,” which seems appropriate, since there’s a lot to question about ing. Where to even begin? First, the new issue of ing only includes two pieces of original material. One is a review of the popular game Rock Band, and another a review of Blue Midnight Hookah Bar near campus.

The other stories were originally published at spartysecrets.com, a website started by a group of grad students at the beginning of last year…and one that has been defunct for more than a year already.

The stories that wound its way into this new issue of ing Magazine are from January 2008, November 2007, October 2007 and September 2007. We don’t know when it became a practice in journalism to print stories from other publications that are a year and a half old.

One of the creators of Sparty Secrets gave Grant permission to run these stories, but it’s not made clear in the new issue. The Sparty Secrets logo appears on the stories, but it’s in a way that makes finding it on the stories seem like a Where’s Waldo game. There are no bylines for the stories, and no way of telling that they are from Sparty Secrets unless a reader already knows what the logo looks like.

For the casual reader not in the school of journalism, the stories are presented so that it looks like ing magazine writers wrote the stories specifically for that new issue.

The stories published aren’t even consistent with what he writes in his note titled “Contributors.” Grant writes that ing Magazine is on campus to cover “events put on by student clubs, Greek organizations and academic departments.” We would hazard a guess that nobody would fit Rock Band or hookah into any of those categories.

Grant obviously did not take journalism ethics, nor probably any other journalism class. If he took any journalism class, he would know that journalism means reporting and writing stories, not soliciting old news from other publications.

He would also know that magazines such as his would be deemed a joke by any real journalists. One only has to read his “Contributors” note at the beginning of the latest issue.

“As a staff, we do our best to focus on content, simply filling the pages with advertisements,” he writes. “We meet with every advertiser personally to be sure they have a product that we think MSU students want.”

Grant has also written in his website that one of the primary reasons ing was created was to give advertisers space to advertise.

It’s clear from these comments that Grant is only concerned with the business side of the magazine. There is no clear editorial mission for the magazine; we’d even go as far as to say that there is none at all.

In journalism, there is a clear line between actual content and advertisements. Advertisements are not content. They are only a way for a publication to make money. Any magazine that claims that its sole mission is to fill pages with advertisements is simply not journalism.

Stories are what bring readers to a magazine, or to any news source. We’d guess that Grant has never written a story before, nor does he have any idea of what goes into reporting. If we were on ing’s staff and actually did write a story for the magazine, we, as journalists, would be offended that he holds advertisements closer to his heart than the real content of the magazine.

That’s not all that leaves us “questioning.” In that same statement, Grant writes that ing magazine filled a niche that was previously unfilled at MSU. He writes, “Michigan State University has a strong journalism department, and an award-winning daily newspaper. However, magazines are different from newspapers, as we know. Last fall the “ing” creators saw an opportunity to fill a need on campus, with a new publication.”

We’re wondering if Grant even researched the media on campus before creating ing. In his note, he ignores the myriad of exemplary alternative media on campus that has already fulfilled, and gone beyond, the niche that he hopes to fill.

Then again, it’s clear that he knows about us since he’s come to every alternative media source on campus, soliciting stories that have already been published.

This isn’t journalism. Everywhere else, this is simply called “copy and paste.”

Questions? Comments? Contact Editor-in-Chief Amanda Peterka at peterkaa@msu.edu

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