Ron Borges - Plagiarist?

Wow. Chortling from Patriots fanboys.
Who'd have predicted that?

 

Precisely.

Put the plagiarism debate aside for a second. Even if plagiarism didn't technically take place, if a writer can compose a story simply by rehashing information that is already in the public domain, does that story really deserve a spot in a newspaper?

This isn't 1970 anymore.

If we want our customers to sit down at our table for a meal, we've got to give them something they can't already get on the all-you-can eat buffet.

 

Its funny to read the holier-than-thou journalism is a sacred trust high horseness go out the window when the person who breaks the so-called cardinal sin of journalism is someone you know. Ken Powers is a nice guy but he got lazy - broke the rules and got fired. Mike Barnacle seems like a decent guy - he got lazy and broke the rules and he too got fired (even though he was much more important to the Globe than Borges ever will be).

Borges gets a slap on the wrist and the Globe doesn't even bother to take down the plagiarized work. Yeah - ethics at the Globe no longer exist. Might as well switch to a tabloid format now and forgo any further pretense.

 

I would not call a two-month suspension without pay a slap on the wrist.

I also think there is a difference between taking someone's work without their knowledge or making up fictional quotes and copying and pasting notes writers send each other.

I still think it's wrong but I can see how editors see a difference. It's more lazy than outright theft.

You also can't expect editors at different papers to discipline writers the same way, even if they belong to the same chain.

 

Ace - Barnacle worked at the Globe when he printed a joke his friend gave him that turrned out to be plagiarized from George Carlin.

 

I know. He also was accused of making up quotes in his columns, I believe. It wasn't a one-time thing.

 

So easy to cut and paste...

...and so easy to get caught.

 

Chris --
You can chortle and dance the night away, for all I care. I'm just saying do it yourself, and not by proxy by hauling in the Kool Aid crowd from Bill's House Of Adultery.

 

The lesson as always: When you're a star in this business, you'll get away with it, and your cronies will make excuses for you. If this had been a prep reporter cutting-and-pasting items out of a suburban daily, not only would he have been canned on the spot, but the same people spinning for Borges now would be here giving us sanctimonious sermons about the integrity of the business.

 

And you keep basing your opinions on what the Page 6 girls write.

Plus if that's what you toss out about Belichick - don't ever defend Clinton by using the "the worst thing he did was get a blow-job" defense. Hypocrite.

 

I think I know what you're trying to say, Bruce, but I don't agree. Borges didn't get away with it, and I don't think a lot of his cronies -- except for a couple of people here, who are vastly outnumbered -- are making excuses for him. I don't think he should have been, as you said, "canned on the spot." Two months unpaid leave is a substantial punishment.

Borges's work was seen by a lot more people than most prep reporters' work. His reputation is more widespread, so, in a lot of ways, he's held to even a higher standard -- not that that should be the case. Chances are more likely that this topic wouldn't be discussed here if it didn't involve someone of Borges' stature.