Need your opinion ... Plagiarism or not?

The Saturday Down South has been edited.

 

No.

 

You have contradicted yourself.

Credit is clearly given, which goes against the classic definition of plagiarism:

... the "wrongful appropriation" and "stealing and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions" and the representation of them as one's own original work ...

There's no effort here to mislead about the source of the reporting - it's even linked.

In the new Gannett universe of social engagement, I would argue this is a net plus.

Saturday Down South has 131,000 twitter followers.
The Tennessean has 76,100 followers
The account @tnsports, the official department twitter, has 8,295 followers.

The story link gets a heck of a lot more attention from the SDS site, then, as a result of that blog post.

It's the classic HuffPo clickbait model. I'm not a fan, but it's the universe we're in.

 

Never heard from the writer or the site ... But the story was mysteriously rewritten around midnight and reposted. Hmmmmmm.

Henry: you must have read the revised version that SDS posted. It's original story literally copied/pasted full sentences.

I don't care how many followers they have. Using your logic, it's ok for the New York Times to steal a story from anywhere and post it as their own. Sorry, they do not have that right. And neither does anyone else.

 

Some folks seem to think if something is posted on the web they can take and use it however they like.

 

Even with the rewritten/re-edited story, I'd still be awfully interested in an explanation. Are you still pursuing one?

 

Received an email from the site's editor this morning. He apologized. Said the writer was reprimanded.

Is that enough?

I know if I (or many of you) had done something similar, we wouldn't have jobs this morning.

 

Not enough.

I'd want some kind of editor's note/explainer featured prominently on their site, explaining what happened, how and why it happened, and what the consequences are. I figure most of the people who have already read that (your guy's) story on their site still don't know a thing about the plagiarism and won't unless there's an editor's note that slaps them in the face. They need to know the story they read was your guy's story.

Also, I think plagiarism is a lot like drunk driving. People who get caught always say "It's the first time I ever did that - I swear!" and it's a load of bullshit. The odds this is the first story this writer has plagiarized are about zero. I'd be asking if there's any investigating going on about this "writer's" past work. And for that matter, of the whole staff/contributors past work. Is this a culture where plagiarism is widespread.

 

And that, Dave, is when it goes too far. IMO.

It's become too easy for people to throw "take their job" out there. Especially when the next job is so hard to come by these days.

A mistake was made. It was corrected. An apology was presented. If these things had not happened, I would have been the first to say pursue it. But now? Let it go.

I'm sure quite a few will disagree. That's OK. Just my two cents.

 

Moddy knows of what he speaks.