Sari Horwitz suspended for plagiarism

It's not unjust at all. It's the worst thing a journalist can do.

The only time I'm even the slightest bit sympathetic is when a "notes network" stuff is involved. There have been cases where someone does the same thing over and over again for a decade and no one blinks, but then there's a change in management and suddenly what was once OK, is now a career-ender.

 

Fabrication is much worse than plagiarism.

 

Whenever fabrication comes up, I can't help but think of Clyde Haberman. He says Abe Rosenthal was right to fire him way back when. But at the same time, he was allowed to return to the Times. If it happened today, I'm sure the lifetime ban really would be a lifetime ban.

http://www.bookofjoe.com/2006/05/the_guy_who_fir.html

 

I agree 100 percent. It's also about a thousand times more difficult to prove.

 

Fabrication - Albom got away with it.

 

And has for decades.

 

no question. but both are fireable offenses and fly against EVERYTHING we as an industry are supposed to stand for. it's a silly defense or rattionalize: 'yeah, i did was a capital offense. but that capital offense is worse...'

 

hell, my former publisher got caught cut-and-paste plagiarizing from a fw star-telegram columnist and all he had to do was write a so-called apology column that read way more like just a sorry excuse for his crime. never once did the words "i'm sorry" appear in that column, just excuses.

 

To be fair, we don't know what's going on in her life. All journalists know how bad plagiarism is, so when someone does it, is it a stretch that it is a symptom and not the bottom-line problem? My first feeling upon reading this was sadness. Don't get me wrong. I understand the outrage. It's the wrong thing to do. No question. I'd also be careful to condemn without knowing all the facts.

 

Who cares what's going on in her life. Too bad.

 

I don't know what bothers me more - journalists who are quick to offer support to colleagues they know or those that are just as quick to trash others (journalists as well as those in other fields) who screw up without first-hand knowledge of what happened.
And Kurtz should know, just winning a Pulitzer at the Washington Post isn't proof that someone is on the up and up.
I have no doubt that many journos take short cuts, maybe to get that big job in New York or DC - or just to stay there.

 

If they only heard about this from the AZ Republic on Monday, do you think they could have truly reviewed all of her work with the Post this quickly?

She's been there how many years?

After Jason Blair, the Times took weeks reviewing his work. Now, maybe this is easier because you're looking for plagiarism & not fabrication, but could they have even run every story through some kind of software by now?