Fla. St. beat writer resigns amid plagiarism charges.

When I started my weekly NFL notes column, I sat down with the higher-ups to discuss how not to give the impression that it was 100 percent self-generated. I used the SP Times as my example, figuring if it was good enough for Poynter, it would be good enough for us. They would credit the paper where the quote was gotten from and have a line at the end saying, "Information from other NFL beat writers was used in this report."

They had no concept and no understanding of it and my SE was a former NFL writer, who knew better, but was playing dumb. Finally, I said, "You know what, I'm just going to generate this completely on my own."

I absolutely did not trust those idiots no matter how many places I gave credit. At my previous paper, they took out all credit and said, "Everybody knows how notes columns work."

 

Sounds like a horseshit rationalization from someone who got busted committing journalism's biggest sin, and wants to go out without all the bad attention on her.

"Yeah, I plagiarized, but look at how mean the company is being ... to everyone else!"

If she had any self-respect, she would have resigned when the Newsroom of the Future bullshit information first came out and the newsroom climate changed. Instead, she waits until she got busted copying the work of others before deciding to walk away and deflect the reasons why.

Real stand-up bitch you've got there ...

 

Wrong. No way in hell she keeps her job. She plagiarized someone for Christ's sake. This was her way of deflecting accountability and responsibility elsewhere.

She was told to resign just like Brady Hoke will be told, too.

 

If you're any good on your beat, particularly in the Internet era, you would never write the same feature story as your competition ran the day before.

 

Athlete Heart rate monitor zones (for descriptive sports writer use only):

1. Pretty chill. Maybe it's an off day or a bye week and you've just smoked marijuana (Please see: Kevin Ward exception). Your heart is thumping at a unhurried pace like the last 2 minutes of drums from "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins

2. Heightened. Did the GM just give an anonymous quote disparaging you? Think Bonham in "When the Levee Breaks."

3. Nerdy anxiety. You're trying to do math problems on the fly while the idiot in the other dugout, probably Ned Yost, bunts his way to victory. A four chambers pumping like Neil Peart in "Tom Sawyer"

4. Pounding. Derek Jeter just asked if you want to film a three-way with him, Mila Kunis and Scarlett Johansson while Bernie Williams stands in the corner and plays a sax solo, but only if you respect the process. Your heart is basically Meg White on bones in "Seven Nation Army"

5. Jackhammering. You accidentally took a swig of Chris Davis' coffee trying to chase a hangover you got from attending the Kentucky Derby with Wes Welker. Your heart is basically the the drums from Green Day's "American Idiot."

6. Tachycardia. You're probably rounding second trying to leg out a triple after a night of doing cocaine with Dwight Gooden or Diego Maradona. You may be minutes from death. Your heart is basically the backbeat from "Wipeout" by The Ventures.

 

Yeah, quit your job on principle when there are thousands of people in your field out-of-work. Go for it, hero.

 

This made me laugh.

In all seriousness, if someone doesn't say he was nervous, you don't assign it to him. Same thing with the 30 other such embellishments in there. I'm reading and say, "Wow, this is great stuff! Where was he finding this?! I suck compared to this guy!" Then I go to the source material he cites, and it's nothing like it.

 

I would have been frustrated beyond belief with the situation you have described. Sounds like you handled it well.

 

Weird, wacky football season in Tallahassee so far:

1. Jameis Winston

2. The plagarism issue.

3. The school hired, as its news president, John Thrasher, a 70-year-old Republican hack and Rick Scott supporter who has no academic credentials other than his degrees from FSU. The Faculty Senate and the Student Government Association both ripped the choice. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/os-john-thrasher-fsu-president-20140923-story.html

4. And this: the comptroller for Seminole Boosters absconds with a half-mill or more. http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/Seminole-Booster-Employee-Terminated-for-Allegedly-Misappropriating-Funds-277834531.html

 

Not saying she should have. But don't double back and claim that's the real reason she's quitting when she just got busted for the cardinal sin of journalism. Can't have it both ways, chief.

 

Maybe I've become jaded and used to this sort of thing by now, but this doesn't exactly rank among the most egregious instances of plagiarism I've come across. I've seen worse, much worse.

The first example cited by Deadspin? Yeah, that's pretty blatant. The differences in the Mitchell quote have me curious -- did this come from, say, a postgame scrum that the school posted audio/video of on its website?

I really don't mean to sound like a plagiarist's apologist, but ... the second instance doesn't seem all that bad. Maybe I'm too generous when I give out benefit of the doubt, but it seems to me feels more like a simple account of the basic facts of the play. Guy goes through the line and sacks Watson for a loss of 4 yards.

At least with the first one, the plagiarist is assigning the same feeling/emotion as the original writer, uses the quotes and the same "felt his hand on the ball" line. That's wrong, wrong, wrong. But I don't quite get that from the second instance.

 

This was my first thought, too. I in no way defend it; I'm just saying I've seen it much more blatant. Many times.