NYT's Ethicist Rips Off Colleague's Column

Sorry, but I feel like the premise of the entire article is a little off. I'm not familiar with Gawker, but I don't really see the big deal. How can you steal a reader question from someone else? Sure, if you copy their response, I would agree that this unethical. However, if you legitimately feel that you have new and valid input on the matter, shouldn't you be allowed to address it? I guess the fact that Randy Cohen acted as if the question was sent to him takes importance away from the other journalist, but I'm sure the reader who sent in the question would appreciate some more input on the matter, as the journalist who originally responded is not necessarily the be-all, end-all on the matter. Basically what I'm trying to say is that the question being posed is in itself independent from the original article that was written responding to the question, at least in theory. If I reference a Nietzsche quote and expound on what he might of meant, it would not be unethical for someone else to address the quote with their own interpretation, nor would they need to cite my article, regardless of whether or not they got the idea to talk about the quote from me, as long as they felt what they were saying was new and different from my original response. Reply