Fla. St. beat writer resigns amid plagiarism charges.

Guys, this young lady is good and she cares. She made a mistake that I've seen made and go unpunished quite often in this business. A second chance was warranted. Glad AL.com had the balls to give it to her. Bet your checks she will do well.

 

Plagiarism = promotion.

You're correct that this often goes unpunished, or discipline is handed down internally and nobody is fired. I know of a long list of writers whose careers would have likely ended if something like this was made public, but when someone is forced to quit for plagiarism and then, just months later gets what is an obvious and clear promotion, it's easy to understand why people would be pissed.

 

It would be a lot easier to accept her actions (and her new bosses' decision to hire her) if she had ever shown a fucking smidge of acceptance that what she did was wrong in the first place.

Instead, she insists she resigned because of the reapplying for jobs that not her, but the rest of the newsroom had to do in Tallahassee, and the toxic environment there. And she just happened to come to that decision after she was busted for plagiarism.

 

Resigning may have been what saved her. I can't imagine Roy didn't know when he hired her, but I don't think it's a given that anyone not in sports knew. Most of us would have taken the time to google her, but I think in a lot of cases that doesn't happen.

 

For me, plagiarism would be a deal breaker.

 

I'm fuzzy on the facts but there is more to the story of what happened in Tallahassee. I've heard they really didn't want to fire her, either. There was an outpouring of support for the young lady, as well. And I think she showed how committed she is to her craft by continuing to blog about FSU after no longer covering the team. The young lady cares. She deserves a second chance. Many of us have had them for one reason or another.

 

I'm all for second chances, but this would have been really tough to justify.

There are mistakes and then there's plagiarism/fabrication.

 

Gee, I wonder why they didn't want to fire her.

 

When this thread first popped up, I thought something was weird.

Now it has only gotten weirder.

I'd like to hear her version and if her explanation was adequate I probably would have hired her.

Just because he byline was on it, doesn't mean she wrote every word. Even with the minimal editing at most Gannett shops, an editor or designer could have made changes.

We've all had editors put errors into copy or changed the text because of space issues. The first reporter to say that hasn't happened to them will be the first reporter I've met.

As far as the quotes, transcribing a post-game scrum isn't plagiarism.

 

This is what bothers me the most. This was her quote on her own website after she quit.

"After more than three years covering Florida State athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat I resigned from my role on Wednesday, Oct. 1, after I was informed that words that were not my own were published in the Democrat and on Tallahassee.com with my byline. While I did not intentionally plagiarize another journalist's work, I take full responsibility for some of freelance writer Tim Linafelt's words appearing in my story last week."

What is she trying to say? Sounds like an admission to me.