Links to recent articles about plagiarism, fabrication
By ACES Staff
A list with links to recent articles about media plagiarism and fabrication cases and issues. The list was compiled by ACES; summaries are taken from the linked articles.
POYNTER’S CRAIG SILVERMAN WRITES THAT THERE WERE 31 INCIDENTS OF PLAGIARISM IN 2012:
From Poynter.org: “2012 was the worst year for fabrication and plagiarism since I began collecting data in 2005. My tally ended up with 31 incidents of plagiarism/fabrication, four more than the previous high water mark in 2006. (Note: I count the exposure of a serial plagiarist as a single incident, rather than adding a digit for each time they stole.) Aside from that, this year was notable in that it saw three serial fabricators exposed at newspapers in the United States. There were also two serial plagiarists who, strangely, both stole humor columns. Then there was ESPN writer Lynn Hoppes, a serial plagiarist who stole exclusively from Wikipedia.”
TORONTO STAR ADMITS TO PLAGIARISM INCIDENT
From the public editor at thestar.com: “Any allegation of plagiarism in the Toronto Star is cause for serious concern. Two confirmed cases of plagiarism in the Star in one week demand serious action.
“What happened in this news organization within the past seven days is unprecedented. Last Saturday, the Star published an apology telling readers that a Jan. 4 Business article included unattributed material from an earlier Globe and Mail report.
“The Star’s policy manual makes clear that plagiarism is “the unattributed use of material from another published source.” As the apology told you, this was a lapse in the Star’s standards.”
TORONTO STAR PURCHASES PLAGIARISM-DETECTION SOFTWARE
From poynter.org: “The Toronto Star has purchased plagiarism detection software after two cases of plagiarism occurred in the past week. Star reporter Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew lifted from a Globe and Mail report, and now-former Toronto school board director Chris Spence plagiarized an op-ed piece, Poynter writes.”
WASHINGTON POST ACKNOWLEDGES PLAGIARISM
(article link is no longer available; 4/5/17)
The Washington Post’s ombudsman Patrick Pexton wrote an editor’s note on top of a story by correspondent William Booth, who was caught plagiairizing parts of a story on the Panama Canal Expansion:
“Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article included material borrowed and duplicated, without attribution, from Environmental Health Perspectives, a monthly scientific journal. In that earlier version, four sentences were copied in whole or in substantial part from “Progress and Pollution: Port Cities Prepare for the Panama Canal Expansion,’’ (link no longer available; 4/5/17) published on Dec. 3 and written by Andrea Hricko, a professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.
“It is The Post’s policy that the use of material from other newspapers or sources must be properly attributed. The Post apologizes to Andrea Hricko, to Environmental Health Perspectives, and to its readers for this serious lapse.”
IMEDIAETHICS WRITES ABOUT IDEA THEFT:
(article link is no longer available; 4/5/17)
From iMediaEthics.org: “Norman P. Lewis, assistant professor in journalism for University of Florida, writes about a lesser-known form of plagiarism in his paper, “Idea Plagiarism: Journalism’s Ultimate Heist.” Dr. Lewis states: “Concealing the sources of ideas misleads the public about the origins of news and sometimes results in withholding information, violations of journalism’s public-service norms and truth-telling mission.” iMediaEthics also compiled the worst cases of plagiarism and attribution in 2012.
SUMMITDAILY.COM TALKS TO ITS READERS ABOUT PLAGIARISM:
From SummitDaily.com: “When we make a mistake here at the Summit Daily News, we feel it is our responsibility to you, our readers, to own up to it and learn from it. We are sorry to report that we have made an embarrassing and inexcusable mistake.On Dec. 23, we published, both online and in our paper, an account of a Dec. 20 Frisco planning commission meeting in which action was taken on a planned development that will feature a Whole Foods Market. It was a big story for our community; as a result, it was the lead headline on the front page. The article had at its start the byline of a Summit Daily News reporter.”
CAPE COD TIMES REPORTER FABRICATED SOURCES SINCE 1998:
(article link is no longer available; 4/5/17)
From examiner.com: “Karen Jeffrey, a journalist for the Cape Cod Times since 1981, fabricated at least 69 sources in 34 of her news stories since 1998, according to her employer. Jeffrey later admitted her fabrication and has now left the newspaper.”
