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You thought it was bad when reporters plagiarized?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Flash, Nov 13, 2007.

  1. joe

    joe Active Member

    The Missourian is a six-day paper put out by the J-school. No Saturday paper.

    The Maneater is what is more traditionally thought of as a student paper, coming out -- at least when I was in school -- two or three times a week. Anyone can work there.
     
  2. 21

    21 Well-Known Member

    Dumbledore lives!
     
  3. jgmacg

    jgmacg Guest

    Here's his entire letter of explanation/apology.

    http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2007/11/14/columnist-apologizes-carelessness/

    Which includes this:

    I was, undoubtedly, careless in not naming The Maneater, the MU student newspaper, as the news source from which I got the several direct quotes from Women’s and Gender Studies departmental spokespersons. These direct quotes I used to spin off into my column published Nov. 4. I did not lift any sentences or paragraphs from anybody else’s writing. I look on these short, directly quoted expressions from the two women in the news story as “news-facts” and see them as in the public domain. Certainly, if what I did is plagiarism, it was unintentional and could, at the most, be considered technical, not unethical.

    He raises some interesting questions about the monolithic nature and narrow definition of "plagiarism."
     
  4. 21

    21 Well-Known Member

    I wish I went to Missouri, because where I come from, they call that 'stealing quotes.'
     
  5. [quote author=lying, cheating, scumbag prof at missouri]I look on these short, directly quoted expressions from the two women in the news story as "news-facts" and see them as in the public domain. Certainly, if what I did is plagiarism, it was unintentional and could, at the most, be considered technical, not unethical.[/quote]

    Oh good fucking lord, you unethical, rationalizing, stealing piece of shit

    Quotes are now "news facts?"

    Go to hell
     
  6. jgmacg

    jgmacg Guest

    So what do we call it when ESPN (or anyone) runs a story under their own writer's byline that contains an athlete's quotes taken from, say, AP? Is it sufficient to say that "wire services contributed to this report"? If so, why?
     
  7. That's wrong, too.

    I've always felt every quote should be attributed if you didn't personally go out and get it.

    "Marbury told reporters covering the Knicks in New York"
    "Marbury told the New York Post"
    "Marbury said in a press conference"

    It's easy to do, it doesn't detract from your story, and any JO "professor" worth a damn knows this

    But in this case, what the professor did is worse because the quotes he stole were unique to the story he stole them from and not just floating around in a bunch of different stories from a host of various sources
     
  8. 21

    21 Well-Known Member

    It's a good question, but at the very least 'wire services' acknowledges that it isn't original work.

    You could also argue the distinction between using a widely-distributed AP quote and using material gathered by a student for the campus newspaper.
     
  9. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    I would just like to add that "The Maneater" is a great name for a newspaper.
     
  10. Barsuk

    Barsuk Active Member

    For the second time in two days, I am ashamed of my alma mater for something posted on SportsJournalists.com. :'(

    The fact this professor (who I never met) is trying to justify his plagiarism is pathetic and distressing, even if he is 83 years old.
     
  11. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    Maybe his age has caught up with him and he should retire.

    Don't condone it but 83 year olds can be forgetfull.
     
  12. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    I was thinking John Huston lives, but Dumbledore works too.
     
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