Plagiarism vs. Censorship

A recently launched discussion on LinkedIn generated several comments (including mine). Which is worse: plagiarism or censorship?

I suppose that anyone whose work has ever been plagiarized would find that the bigger offense. The only time I recall my work being plagiarized was when a radio anchor repeated - verbatim - the lead paragraph of a story I had on Page 1 the day before. I wasn't all that upset about it, just annoyed. Of course, I didn't know how many people were listening either.

Censorship, on the other hand, is different. For anyone who firmly believes in the First Amendment, censorship is a battleground when national security is not at stake. It hides or distorts both truth and opinion. And in a free society, we must be able to express both, no matter how much it hurts. That's a chief reason I entered journalism (remember Vietnam and Watergate?). And while I respect the concerns of the families of U.S. soldiers killed in battle, I agree with the Obama administration's decision to reverse an 18-year-old ban on photographing the coffins of soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice. It sends a message that war is ugly but there is indeed a price to pay to maintain our freedoms, especially freedom of expression.