The Exhibition Panel and the Missing Footnote
You are a final-year Journalism student curating a 10-panel exhibition, 'Two Centuries of Bengal's Press', for your college's Journalism Day. The budget is ₹6,000; the printer has already produced 8 panels and needs two days for a reprint. One panel says a 19th-century Bengali weekly was founded in 1868. A blog says 1870; the college library has a bound volume whose masthead is undated and whose title page is missing; a senior teacher says 'everyone writes 1868'. On another panel, a 120-word paragraph is copied verbatim from a university website, with no credit. The principal will inaugurate the exhibition and has invited a retired editor. First-year students may cite the panels in assignments. You have 48 hours before the inauguration. The college librarian is on leave.
1. How would you resolve the 1868/1870 conflict, and what would you print if the sources remain inconclusive?
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Treat 1868 and 1870 as claims to be tested, not facts to vote on. Check primary evidence: the bound volume's masthead, colophon, first issue, advertisements and library catalogue; the National Library or state archive holding; contemporary newspapers that noticed the launch. Distinguish 'founded' from 'first issue'. A blog is a secondary source; a teacher's memory is not evidence.
If the sources still conflict, print: 'Launched in the late 1860s; sources differ on whether the first issue appeared in 1868 or 1870.' Add a footnote listing what was checked and what remains uncertain. That is more accurate than a confident wrong date, and it teaches visitors how history is made. Do not choose the date that sounds better or the one 'everyone writes'.
2. What do you do about the copied paragraph now that eight panels are printed?
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Remove the copied paragraph from the panel and from any handout. If the panel is already printed, cover it with a sticker or an errata slip saying the text is being revised and credited. Reprint only if time and budget allow - one panel, not all ten. Paraphrase in your own words and cite the website, author and date; check permission if the borrowing is substantial. Do not merely change a few words; that is still plagiarism. Tell the principal before the inauguration. A small correction is better than a visitor or the retired editor spotting the copied text.
3. Write a short note for visitors explaining how the exhibition handles uncertain dates and sources.
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A note on evidence in this exhibition: Some dates in the history of Bengal's press are disputed. Where a panel says 'sources differ', we have checked library catalogues and surviving copies but have not found a single conclusive record. Secondary sources are cited in the footnote. Please treat the panels as a starting point, not as a citation-ready authority. Corrections are welcome at the college office. This note does two things: it protects the exhibition from overclaiming, and it models the scepticism that journalism students should apply to all historical claims, including those on social media.