An hour ago, BaretaNews shared an article from DC Gazette, USA which says Melania Trump did not plagiarise but portions of her speech were similar to Michele Obama’s 2008 speech. They defended her by saying that her speech resonated with every speech any other first lady had made.

BaretaNews decided to bring forth this to its audience, though a Trump supporter so that ideas could be exchanged. It was heavily received and debated.

However, what is Plagiarism? It is defined as ” the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own”

Did Melania’s Trump section of her speech look exactly as Michele Obama’s? Oh yes it does

Was Melania Trump aware of this prior to delivering her speech? Probably not but if one follows her statement which says she wrote much of her speech herself then it means she was aware of what she was saying and probably did copied part of Michele’s speech.

BaretaNews will just want to make it clear, though a Trump fan, it is very difficult to defend this. By all intent and purpose, from all angles, by all academic standards, it is very clear portions of her text was plagiarised. There is no way we can accept issues like this in our society without giving credit to original authors if we must take someone else works. We think the Trump campaign team should just own up, apologise and move on. We know politically it might be costly, but the best thing to do should be to fire the speechwriters and save the face of the campaign team.

That said, BaretaNews stands with the fact that Melania Trump did plagiarise sections of Michele’s 2008 speech and this MUST be condemned.

Mark Bara

CEO, Bareta Media and Communication

Publisher, BaretaNews