Copyright and Fair Use

What can I say about copyright and fair use? I do find it necessary to copyright your work, otherwise you may be plagiarized. I have actually been plagiarized, and it is not a pleasant feeling. I was enraged. Now, it was not a novel, or anything like that. It was an article in my church newsletter, but it was my work, nonetheless. I had given a copy of my article to another reporter on staff and she was to give it to the Editor for me. I did not know that she had been asked to cover the same event. Well, she took my work, changed a few words, added her name and submitted it for publishing. The Editor happened to be a good friend of mine and she showed me an advance copy of the newsletter with both articles. When I saw what the other reporter had done I asked that my article be removed, but the Editor refused. She said that people knew my style of writing (which was very different from the other reporter's) and that the other reporter would be the one shamed. I agreed and let the publication run as is. It taught me a lesson about copyright and who you can trust...or not! I wrote a play several years ago, this I had copyrighted. So, it is important to respect the laws of copyright and check into fair use before you copy someone else's work. They have worked very hard to produce this and may not want to share it with you.