Inquirer writer accused of plagiarism

Can any of you honestly say you've never ever plagiarized? Not even made minor changes in wording? I know many who have, including some on this board, although they'd be loathe to admit it. It happens more often than any of us think. Condemn it if you wish in the strongest terms you can come up with, but you know who you are. That is, if you can permit yourselves to be completely honest.

 

No way in hell.

 

I admit I am approaching this as a copy editor, but I know more reporters who are quick to call out or even bitch to the boss about small desk mistakes than copy editors who will do the same to the reporter. The difference? The copy editor generally has a chance to correct the error, while the reporter generally doesn't (unless it merits a correction; I know exactly one reporter who is consistently dilligent enough and tech savvy enough to proof his stories after they're edited, and we love him for it).

I'd rather work with Mizzou's copy chief than a very nice but average copy editor any day as a reporter.

 

Agree completely. During my second internship I worked as a copy editor (was not supposed to, but they had someone quit right before I started) and I saw how some of the writers treated the desk and I vowed never to be that guy.

With the exception of the time a copy editor inserted a false fact into a story that got me reamed by the coach I covered at the time, I don't think I ever complained about about the desk.

 

Because I admire him as much as anybody I've worked with, I'll tell the story that Bernie Lincicome once came to me between editions and told me to restore the status of a single comma -- either put one back in that I took out, or vice versa -- and well, it was Bernie, so I certainly wasn't going to argue. That's how close he read his published column in the first edition.

 

I was writing the sixth sidebar at a NFL game early in my career and one of our baseball writers (now a big time national guy) was subbing for one of the columnists. I was calling the desk to make sure the stories had arrived and the baseball writer said, "You tell the desk that if one word is changed in my copy, I want to know about it."

I kind of looked at him like, "You really want me to tell them that?" and he made it very clear he was serious.

Then my SE gets on the phone. "I know he's standing right there. Did he really say that? Just say yes."

Yes.

"Tell him to go fuck himself."

That was a fun ride back to the hotel.

 

off with his head! no mercy!
throw him to the dogs!

he maybe copied a blog - once in his otherwise honorable career - and the morality police demand capital punishment. death to the scoundrel!

the honor of the profession is at stake!

grow up.

it's almost never black and white - it's usually gray.
and the person's history counts for something.

 

this.

 

Kevin is a good guy. He'd help anyone. He's not the most gifted journalist around but he's a veteran of about, to my count, 30 years. He has been around long enough to know that this was a big mistake. My question is if he's done this before? The answer is probably yes, but this is the first time that he's been caught.

 

I had a journalism professor who said if we ever plagiarized in her class, she would put it in our permanent file and make the rest of our career a living hell.


Hell, I used a quote from an article by one of our other writers and I made sure I credited him. The closest I've come is looking at the rival paper's box score if I don't have the stats and I want mention them in a notebook.

 

Only one who was that bad, and others who were lesser monarchs.

Yep.

 

Of course I've never plagiarized and I'm guessing most journalists haven't and most people on this board haven't.

This is the absolute most serious transgression somebody in our profession can commit. It's unthinkable for us. Are you really a sports writer and still posing this question?

You're seriously saying this guy shouldn't be fired for stealing stuff word-for-word from another story?

You honestly think journalists who plagiarize deserve a second chance?

What he did was inexcusable. Unless there's some mistake - his story was actually posted before the blog or something - there is no valid reason this guy still has a job.