Apology to Sydney and Other Contributors

In reference to a letter beneath your Letter to Jomo Column today, which you authored, you made certain remarks and references to the effect that I culled some of your articles for my on-line newspaper-the Ghanaian Journal, without crediting you, (Sidney) the author.

I must state that as a Journalist, I am very much aware of the implications involved in illegal plagiarizing and would not do anything to injure my hard won reputation and also to undermine your creative prowess by assuming ownership of works that are yours.

By the on-line arrangement, if one is not a regular contributor of The Ghanaian Journal, the Computer Programming of the newspaper will credit any such article with any of the familiar names that the computer knows. It could either be the Editor, which of course is SAMMY AMPAH, or any other member of staff.

I therefore put the names of all outside contributors at the “END OR THE BOTTOM” of any of such Articles that do not originate from any of my staff members.

These articles are also placed under the headline “STORIES FROM OTHER NEWSPAPERS”.

In any case where the names (if any has ever occurred) of outside contributors do not appear at all, Sidney, I want to state that then that will be pure omission or genuine human oversight.

I am very sorry if the peculiar programming of my newspaper gives the impression that I deliberately cull stories from other newspapers without crediting the authors.

I apologize again to you and all others who might be thinking like you because of the way my newspaper is programmed.

Yours truly,

(Sammy Ampah,
Editor, The Ghanaian Journal)