Plagiarism in Greensboro

[User 4332]

http://www.news-record.com/blog/56184/entry/71945

We terminated a reporter Monday for lifting passages from other writers’ works.
Without giving appropriate credit, Robert Bell used phrasing and sentences from stories in other newspapers in numerous cases.

That violates our ethics policy and, more important, violates our covenant of trust with you.

For that, I apologize.

I write this not to embarrass Robert, but rather to own up to our failure. It’s the right thing to do. You must have confidence that what you read in these pages is fair, accurate and true. Our credibility depends on it.

This really bums me out. Robert is someone I looked up to when I passed through that newsroom, and I'm having a really hard time understanding how this happened. I feel like the public explanation the paper is giving is inadequate.

 

[Moderator1]

Re: Plagarism in Greensboro?

Why the question mark in the headline?

 

[PeteyPirate]

Re: Plagarism in Greensboro?

Too bad about Robert. I liked him in the brief period we worked together.

 

[User 4332]

Re: Plagiarism in Greensboro?

Why the question mark in the headline?

I guess because I don't quite believe it. I'd like to see a side-by-side on what they're calling plagiarism. Fixed the typo in the hed, though. If folks think I should take the ? out, I will.

 

[Moderator1]

Re: Plagiarism in Greensboro?

Hey, I feel you. But the paper wrote that it fired him for it so I don't think there's much question.

 

[Songbird]

whose stuff did he lift?

 

[blacktitleist]

wow. pretty stunning.

From what I knew of Robert, he was as hard a worker as there was.

This also further depletes the N&R Sports staff, which was already pretty much bare-bones.

 

[Barsuk]

wow. pretty stunning.

From what I knew of Robert, he was as hard a worker as there was.

This also further depletes the N&R Sports staff, which was already pretty much bare-bones.

Good lord, you're not kidding. If their staff directory is right, they were down to six sports staffers WITH Bell. I can't even comprehend how we got to a point where a paper that size has a staff that small.

 

[Joe Williams]

We terminated a reporter Monday for lifting passages from other writers’ works.
Without giving appropriate credit, Robert Bell used phrasing and sentences from stories in other newspapers in numerous cases.

That violates our ethics policy and, more important, violates our covenant of trust with you.

For that, I apologize.

I write this not to embarrass Robert, but rather to own up to our failure. It’s the right thing to do. You must have confidence that what you read in these pages is fair, accurate and true. Our credibility depends on it.

I'm not going to defend plagiarists (though I have wondered elsewhere on this board if it should always be a death-penalty offense for a journalist's career).

I just wish that explanations about such instances were more clear and precise.

It is quite possible for a lazy writer to steal another person's work and for that content to be fair, accurate and true. Meanwhile it also is quite possible for a lazy writer to fabricate an incident, an event or a person entirely, which isn't exactly plagiarism but doesn't get anywhere close to accuracy or truth. And, to me, that is a way worse offense because fiction has no business being passed off as fact, while most readers don't give a crap who actually wrote most of the stories they read.

Seems to me this explanation to the readers should have focused on "misrepresenting another's work as his own," thereby breaking the trust relationship that a reporter needs with both editors and readers.

Most of the time, though, I'd bet that what plagiarists swipe from other sources is fair, accurate and true. Only the byline part is a lie.

 

[txsportsscribe]

Most of the time, though, I'd bet that what plagiarists swipe from other sources is fair, accurate and true. Only the byline part is a lie.

and this makes it less wrong?

 

[Joe Williams]

Most of the time, though, I'd bet that what plagiarists swipe from other sources is fair, accurate and true. Only the byline part is a lie.

and this makes it less wrong?

Different wrong, at least.

But in the sense of misleading readers, yeah, maybe less wrong than the other. Not saying it's an innocent mistake or a minor transgression, but making up stuff -- as certain noted successful writers in this business have done and continued to work -- strikes me as much worse.

 

[crusoes]

"Different" wrong?

Wrong is wrong. Just as dead is dead, even if you didn't mean to run him over.

 

[RickStain]

There are degrees of wrong. I think I'd agree that fabrication is worse than plagiariasm.

Both are bad enough to get you deservedly fired and blackballed, so in practical terms it probably doesn't matter much.

 

[Tarheel316]

Wow, this is stunning. Robert has plenty of talent. Why he would do these things is baffling. It makes no sense at all.

 

[Monroe Stahr]

Maybe journalists should have to send all their stories to turnitin.com before they're published.

http://turnitin.com/static/index.html

 

[TRS-80]

Robert Bell is not only one of the most talented writers out there, he's also just about the most generous co-worker you could ever come across. Haven't seen him in years, but my thoughts are with him.

 

[flexmaster33]

Unfortunate, but also unacceptable.

 

[henryhenry]

"Different" wrong?

Wrong is wrong. Just as dead is dead, even if you didn't mean to run him over.

how incredibly dense.
wrong is wrong. jaywalking is the same as murder.

much much worse is a corrupt reporter. with a conflict of interest. with a financial stake in the story. way beyond copying accurate information, which is not as bad as fabricating information.

 

[sportsguydave]

"Different" wrong?

Wrong is wrong. Just as dead is dead, even if you didn't mean to run him over.

how incredibly dense.
wrong is wrong. jaywalking is the same as murder.

much much worse is a corrupt reporter. with a conflict of interest. with a financial stake in the story. way beyond copying accurate information, which is not as bad as fabricating information.

Disagree. We don't have much to hang onto in this business these days. Integrity has to count for something.

Plagiarism is ALWAYS wrong.

 

[zagoshe]

What is gained by the newspaper with these kinds of public outings?

It seems like firing the guy would be sufficient but why do papers feel the need to publish they fired a guy, who did not, by the way, commit a crime.