Interesting plagiarism case

Sorry if this is a DB but a search came up with nothing...

Apparently a sports reporter in Virginia borrowed not only from the Washington Post and ESPN.com, but the local high school paper as well. Wow.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/va-news2_050207may02,1,1810742.story?ctrack=2&cset=true

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/williamsburg/dp-23811sy0may03,0,1109695.story

[Edit: Didn't have to copy "plagiarism" from anywhere, just had to check the spelling) ;D

 

Re: Interesting plagarism case

Discussed earlier and thread locked and now nuked because of an outing situation.

 

Re: Interesting plagarism case

Didn't know, sorry. Go ahead and nuke this one too then moddys.

 

Re: Interesting plagarism case

Thanks Moddy.
Being that I don't know too many East Coasters, I don't think I'll be outing anybody. That said, why would somebody even think they could get away with stealing, much less stealing from the Post, ESPN and the HIGH SCHOOL NEWSPAPER! Why!?!?! It blows my mind.

 

Re: Interesting plagarism case

stealing from a High School paper? Wow...

 

Re: Interesting plagarism case

A high school newspaper, though. It just boggles my mind. My niece is on her high school paper. Very bright kid, serious about becoming good at it, surprises me sometimes with what she knows, knows what's happening in the biz and still wants to major in journalism when she gets to college in, gulp, September 2009. But still. The thought of a paid professional plagiarizing one of her stories just makes me laugh. The kid just started working at Starbucks. She is taking driving lessons. A few years ago I was buying her toys.

 

Re: Interesting plagarism case

Isn't it odd how many people can't spell plagiarism, given how often it happens? (See title of this thread.)

Seriously, just find somewhere it's spelled correctly and copy it.

 

Re: Interesting plagarism case

Copying somebody else's spelling work? That's appropriate for this story.

 

Re: Interesting plagarism case

To all curious, here is a link to a cached version of one of the articles in question:

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:qImeA2QZYsEJ:www.vagazette.com/sports/va-sports2_042507apr25,0,7783744.story%3Fcoll%3Dva-sports+%22Bryan+L.+Fuell%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us

And here is the Post story:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/16/AR2007041601688.html

Needless to say, this is pretty ridiculous.

 

Re: Interesting plagarism case

I posted this on the nuked thread. It's a letter from the school board to the paper:

http://www.wjcc.k12.va.us/content/pressrelease/PR-PressRoom/2007/may/050107-Gazette%20Plagiarism.pdf

May 1, 2007

W.C. O'Donovan, Publisher
Rusty Carter, Managing Editor
Virginia Gazette
216 Ironbound Road
Williamsburg, VA 23188

Mr. O'Donovan and Mr. Carter:

The latest example of journalistic irresponsibility displayed by the Gazette is absolutely
breathtaking in its egregiousness, and will not go unanswered by this School Division or
this community.

In the Wednesday, April 25, edition of the Gazette on the front page of the sports section
(page 1B) is an article headlined “Calling the Shots,” with a byline of Bryan L. Fuell, a
Gazette sportswriter. In good faith, the community believed it to be a feature about the
Lafayette High School girls’ tennis team, complete with quotes from two of their players
and their coach.

Thanks to some alert people in the community, however, it was discovered that this story
had been plagiarized, nearly word for word, from a story that had been published in the
Washington Post on Tuesday, April 17, under the byline of Post Staff Writer Preston
Williams. To make matters even worse, the quotes attributed to the Lafayette players and
coach were falsely attributed to them, having actually been uttered by players and a coach
of a high school in the metro Washington area.

The quotes, when put falsely in the mouths of our local students, made them appear to be
cheaters and poor sports, and have devastated the families involved. This approaches
defamation.

Plagiarism in responsible journalistic circles is an offense for which immediate
termination of the offending writer is the standard and accepted course of action. In
recent high-profile cases, both the Post and The New York Times fired reporters when it
was discovered they had plagiarized and/or manufactured fictitious material.

This most recent example is especially disturbing, not only for the reasons stated above
but because it isn’t the first time this reporter has been caught plagiarizing. On Feb. 10,
Mr. Fuell lifted almost verbatim a story about a Jamestown tennis player from the
Jamestown High School student newspaper, The Eagle Eye. The photo credit also was
changed.

To plagiarize a news story from one of the nation’s most respected newspapers, call it
one’s own, and then reassign quotes to local people, thus besmirching the character of our
students, goes beyond common decency.

We will insist upon the following:
1.) A full admission of the plagiarism in a published article prepared by you, along
with separate, written apologies to the coach and the two players for falsely
attributed quotes.
2.) That Mr. Fuell be fired, in accordance with standard journalistic ethical practices.
We understand from outside sources that this has taken place; if true, we applaud
the Gazette for doing the right thing.
3.) An editorial by Mr. O’Donovan detailing for the community the steps he will take
to ensure that plagiarism does not occur again in the pages of the Gazette.

As for the Division, we will:
1.) Notify Washington Post reporter Preston Williams of the fact that his story was
plagiarized, so that the Post may take whatever actions they deem appropriate.
2.) Notify the Tribune Co., the parent company of the Gazette that owns the
publication.

We must take these actions for our students to see that those in the professional world are
held accountable and that true professionals make every attempt to correct damage done.

Our students, and indeed our community, also will see that, if those steps fail to be taken,
that their School Division will do whatever is necessary to ensure that the journalism that
serves this community is responsible.

Denise W. Koch, Chair, Williamsburg-James City Co. School Board
Ron Vaught, Vice Chair
Gary S. Mathews, Ph.D., Superintendent, W-JCC Schools