Chapter 9: Stolen Words, Invented Facts … or Worse
Overview
Kara Wedekind, “The unethical timeline,” American Journalism Review, August 2005.
A review of a series of plagiarism and fabrication cases and other transgressions.
http://www.ajr.org/article.asp?id=3934
Jack Shafer, “The Romenesko effect: How a one-man Web site is improving journalism,” Slate.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/2005/04/the_romenesko_effect.html
[In November 2010, Romenesko left poynteronline and started his own site: jimromenesko.com.
See: Mark Lisheron, “Romenesko roars back,” American Journalism Review, August/September
2012. http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=5261]
Bob Steele, “Cutting corners,” poynteronline, Aug. 29, 2003. Steele explores the question of why
a veteran journalist would cut ethical corners and jeopardize his career.
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=46229
Michael White, “Survey: Public thinks journalists often guilty of ethical lapses,” The Associated
Press, Oct. 16, 1998. (News databases)
Plagiarism
Norman P. Lewis, “Plagiarism antecedents and situational influences,” Journalism and Mass
Communication Quarterly, Vol. 85, No. 2, Summer 2008, 313-330. (Academic databases)
Roy Peter Clark, “The unoriginal sin,” originally written for the March 1983 issue of Washington
Journalism Review (now American Journalism Review). “The unoriginal sin” was posted on
poynteronline in July 2000: http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=133454
Leonard Pitts Jr., “Chris Cecil, plagiarism gets you fired,” The Miami Herald, June 3, 2005.
https://journalismclass.wikispaces.com/file/view/pitts.pdf
Edward Wasserman, “What is ‘original’ journalism anyway?”, The Miami Herald, May 30, 2005.
Find the essay on ewasserman.com – use the search feature.
Trudy Lieberman, “Plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize … only be sure to always call it research,”
Columbia Journalism Review, July/August 1995. (Academic databases)
Edward Wasserman, “Plagiarism and precedence,” Media Ethics Magazine, Fall 2006.
The current dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of
California/Berkeley professor offers a detailed definition of “journalistic plagiarism.”
http://ewasserman.com/2006/10/09/plagiarism-and-precedence/
Siva Vaidhyanathan, “Copyright jungle,” Columbia Journalism Review,
September/October 2006. A primer on copyright law. (Academic databases)
Kristal Brent Zook, “Do they get it that it’s wrong?: Journalism students can be ‘truly
baffled’ when confronted with plagiarism,” Columbia Journalism Review, July 16, 2012.
A college professor wonders whether young journalists simply disagree with the notion
that plagiarism is cheating.
http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/do_cheating_journalism_student.php
National Summit to Fight Plagiarism and Fabrication, Telling the Truth and Nothing But,
2013. This is a free 71-page e-book produced jointly by journalism organizations, media
companies, and institutions, led by the American Copy Editors Society. The book can be
downloaded at: http://www.rjionline.org/sites/default/files/aces_telling_the_truth_1.pdf
 Craig Silverman of the Poynter Institute, who was involved in preparing the book,
wrote: “By using The Truth as a guide, any organization can create a sound policy
for attribution, plagiarism and fabrication, create checks to help prevent the worst
from happening, and set down clear policies about what to do if it does occur. …
The book is a roadmap that makes it easy to implement, thereby eliminating the
excuse that an organization doesn’t have the resources or information needed to
address these important issues.” http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/regret-theerror/209398/journalism-orgs-launch-free-ebook-for-preventing-detecting-andhandling-plagiarism-and-fabrication/
Center for Social Media, School of Communication, American University, Set of
Principles in Fair Use for Journalism, 2013. A guide for journalists, including interactive
case examples. From the introduction: “This Set of Principles reduces risk of copyright
infringement by clarifying professional community standards. It identifies six situations
in which journalists routinely employ fair use, and what its limitations are: incidental
capture; proof; use in cultural journalism; illustration; historical reference; and to foster
public discussion. This Set of Principles was created by journalists convened by chapters
of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Online News Association, as well as in
some cases the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. In 10 cities nationwide, they
conducted 17 meetings, facilitated by Profs. Patricia Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi of
American University.” Access the booklet at:
http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/journalism
Fabrication
John Hersey, “The legend on the license,” The Yale Review, Vol. 70, 1980, 1-25.
“[T]here is one sacred rule of journalism. The writer must not invent. The legend on the
license must read: NONE OF THIS WAS MADE UP.”
Chip Scanlan, “The first peril: fabrication,” poynteronline, Aug. 23, 2002. The Poynter
Institute scholar revisits Hersey’s legend on the license.
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=9506
The Smoking Gun, “A million little lies: Exposing James Frey’s fiction addiction,” Jan. 8,
2006. The debunking of Frey’s supposedly nonfiction memoir, A Million Little Pieces,
which had been selected for Oprah Winfrey’s book club and had become a bestseller.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/jamesfrey/0104061jamesfrey1.html
Peter Meyer, publisher, and Paul Provonost, editor, “An apology to our readers,” Cape
Cod Times, Dec. 4, 2012. “There is an implied contract between a newspaper and its
readers. The paper prints the truth. Readers believe that it's true. … [S]o it is with heavy
heart that we tell you the Cape Cod Times has broken that trust. An internal review has
found that one of our reporters wrote dozens of stories that included one or more sources
who do not exist.”
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121204/NEWS/121209902
Six Cautionary Examples of Plagiarism and Fabrication
Janet Cooke:
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Janet Cooke, “Jimmy’s world: 8-year-old heroin addict lives for a fix,” The Washington Post,
Sept. 28, 1980. The article in which Cooke told the story of Jimmy, who proved to be a
fabricated character. (News databases)
Bill Green, “The reporter: When she smiled, she dazzled; when she crashed …”, The
Washington Post, April 19, 1981. The ombudsman’s detailed report on Cooke’s fabrication.
(News databases)
After Jimmy’s World: Tightening Up In Editing (New York: The National News Council, 1981),
16-25.
Stephen Glass:
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Buzz Bissinger, “Shattered Glass,” Vanity Fair, September 1998. About the Stephen Glass
case. http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/archive/1998/09/bissinger199809
Lori Robertson, “Shattered Glass at The New Republic,” American Journalism Review, June
1998. http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=1838
Howard Kurtz, “Stephen Glass waits for prime time to say ‘I lied’ ”, The Washington Post,
May 7, 2003. (News databases)
Ann Reilly Dowd, “The Great Pretender: How a writer fooled his readers,” Columbia
Journalism Review, July/August 1998. (Academic databases)
Patricia Smith:
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Sinéad O’Brien, “Secrets and lies,” American Journalism Review, September 1998.
http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=648
Patricia Smith, “A note of apology,” The Boston Globe, June 16, 1998. (News databases)
Mike Barnicle:
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Sinéad O’Brien, “For Barnicle, one controversy too many,” American Journalism Review,
September 1998.
Matthew V. Storin, “Some practical advice from a crisis-buffeted editor,” included in Robert H.
Giles, Ed., “Media mistakes of ’98,” a booklet published by the Freedom Forum Media
Studies Center.
Jayson Blair:
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“Times reporter who resigned leaves long trail of deception,” The New York Times, May 11,
2003. The Times’ investigation of Jayson Blair’s reporting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/national/11PAPE.html
Jacques Steinberg, “Times reporter resigns after questions on article,” The New York Times,
May 2, 2003.About the Jayson Blair case. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/02/us/timesreporter-resigns-after-questions-on-article.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1
Howard Kurtz, “Reporter resigns over copied story,” The Washington Post, May 2, 2003.
(LexisNexis Academic)
Jill Rosen, “All about the retrospect,” American Journalism Review, June/July 2003.
“Jayson Blair charmed and dazzled the right people on his rapid rise from cocky
college student to New York Times national reporter. But he left plenty of clues about
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the serious problems that lay below the surface.”
http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3020
PBS Online Newshour: “Jayson Blair: A case study of what went wrong at The New
York Times,” Dec. 10, 2004. Links to video clip.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/media/media_ethics/casestudy_blair.php
Margaret Sullivan, “Repairing the credibility cracks,” The New York Times, May 4,
2013. The Times’ public editor reviews the case 10 years later.
Jack Kelley:
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Blake Morrison, “Ex-USA Today reporter faked major stories,” USA Today, March 21, 2004.
USA Today’s investigation of Jack Kelley. http://www.usatoday.com/news/2004-03-18-200403-18_kelleymain_x.htm
Bill Hilliard, Bill Kovach and John Seigenthaler, “The problems of Jack Kelley and USA
Today, a memorandum to publisher Craig Moon, published in USA Today, April 22, 2004.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/media/media_ethics/pdfs/usatoday-report.pdf.
PBS Online Newshour, “Credibility in question: Jack Kelley and USA Today,” Dec.
10, 2004. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/media/media_ethics/casestudy_usatoday.php
Two Cases in Which Journalists Broke the Law
R. Foster Winans:
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R. Foster Winans, Trading Secrets. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1986).
Mike Gallagher:
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Bruce W. Sanford, “Chiquita lesson: Libel isn't weapon of choice,” The American Editor, Oct.
15, 1998; updated May 20, 1999. http://www.asne.org/kiosk/editor/98.sept/sanford1.htm
Nicholas Bender, “Damage report: After the Chiquita story,” Columbia Journalism Review,
May/June 2001. (Academic databases)
Cincinnati.com, “Fired reporter has his record erased,” July 24, 2012.
http://news.cincinnati.com/proart/20120723/news010701/307230064/fired-reporterhas-his-criminal-record-erased?pagerestricted=1
Setting and Enforcing Standards
Jill Rosen, “We mean business,” American Journalism Review, June/July 2004.
After a series of cases involving fabrication and plagiarism, the nation's newspapers sought to
stiffen their defenses against ethical lapses. http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3668
Lori Robertson, “Confronting the culture,” American Journalism Review, August 2005.
The culprit behind the recurring clusters of plagiarism and fabrication scandals isn’t just
irresponsible youth or a few bad apples or the temptations of the Internet. It may be the
newsroom culture itself. http://www.ajr.org/article.asp?id=3933
Craig Silverman, “The counter-plagiarism handbook,” cjr.org, Feb. 26, 2010. For writers,
tips for avoiding plagiarism while researching. For editors, tips for detecting plagiarism.
http://www.cjr.org/regret_the_error/the_counterplagiarism_handbook.php?page=all
Silverman, “Why newsrooms don’t use plagiarism detection services,” Mediashift, March
23, 2010. http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/03/why-newsrooms-dont-use-plagiarismdetection-services082.html
Silverman, “4 warning signs that a promising young writer may be developing dangerous
habits,” poynteronline, Aug. 1, 2012. Silverman lists the warning signs: pressure to
produce more content, sloppy sourcing, massaging quotes, and tinkering with anecdotes
to make them perfect examples. http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/regret-theerror/183384/how-to-detect-when-a-young-writers-sloppy-habits-could-signal-far-worse/
Roy Peter Clark, “How to protect against journalism malpractice,” poynteronline, Aug. 2,
2012. Clark proposes a plagiarism and fabrication detection system in which a new
reporter is told during orientation: “At random, some of your stories will be run through
plagiarism detection software. In addition, at lest once a year – more often if we have
suspicions – an editor will be assigned to check the facts, scenes, and sources in your
story.” http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/writingtools/183811/how-to-protect-against-journalism-malpractice/
Additional Case Studies
Phone-Hacking Scandal in U.K.
 William R. Davie, “Narrative exemplars and lessons learned from the News of the
World’s demise,” Media Ethics Magazine, Fall 2011.
http://www.mediaethicsmagazine.com/index.php/browse-back-issues/121-fall2011/3998406-narrative-exemplars-and-lessons-learned-from-the-news-of-theworlds-demise
 The Week, “Rupert Murdoch's phone-hacking scandal,” April 4, 2012. A timeline of
the scandal, with links to news coverage of specific developments.
http://theweek.com/article/index/217378/rupert-murdochs-phone-hacking-scandal-atimeline
 The New York Times, “Press freedom at risk,” Nov. 29, 2012. In an editorial, The
Times takes issue with curbs on the British press proposed by a government
commission. The editorial contains a link to the proposals.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/opinion/a-free-press-isnt-the-problem.html
Tucson Shooting Plagiarism Case
 Paul Farhi, “Washington Post suspends reporter for plagiarizing stories on Tucson
shooting,” The Washington Post, March 16, 2011. The reporter was suspended for
three months for plagiarizing sections of stories that first appeared in The Arizona
Republic. Farhi writes: “Some news organizations, including The Post, have fired
reporters for copying another journalist’s work and presenting it has their own.” Bob
Steele, professor of journalism ethics at DePauw University, is quoted: “For a long
time, it was viewed as an excommunication sin, beyond mortal sin. But nowadays
editors try to look at the full context of what happened and why it happened.”
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/washington-post-suspends-reporterfor-plagiarizing-stories-on-tucson-shooting/2011/03/16/ABzKfHh_story.html
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Steve Fox, “Washington Post plagiarism case challenges educators who tell students
not to break the rules,” poynteronline, March 31, 2011; updated April 1, 2011,
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/everyday-ethics/126074/washington-postplagiarism-challenges-educators-who-students-not-to-break-the-rules/
Mallary Jean Tenore, “Have newsrooms relaxed standards, sanctions for fabrication
and plagiarism?”, poynteronline, June 20, 2011. After reviewing how news
organizations have responded to noteworthy plagiarism cases, Tenore identified
factors that may have figured into their decisions: “the news organization’s policy on
fabrication/plagiarism, the severity of the offense, the reporter’s tenure and track
record at the organization, and any personal difficulties the reporter may have been
dealing with at the time.” Poynter’s Kelly McBride, who is quoted in the article,
makes the point that fabrication “is almost always more egregious than plagiarism
because it involves creating fiction in a place where only fact is permitted.”
http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/leadership-management/136198/have-newsroomsrelaxed-standards-sanctions-for-fabrication-and-plagiarism/
Jonathan Lehrer Case
 Rem Rieder, “Jonah Lehrer’s echo chamber,” American Journalism Review,
June/July 2012. http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=5352
 David Carr, “Journalists dancing on the edge of truth,” The New York Times, Aug. 19,
2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/20/business/media/journalists-plagiarismjonah-lehrer-fareed-zakaria.html
 Jeff Bercovici, “Jonah Lehrer’s sick, cynical quest for forgiveness gets a book deal,”
forbes.com, June 7, 2013.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/06/07/jonah-lehrers-sick-cynicalquest-for-forgiveness/
Fareed Zakaria Case
 Jack Murkinson and Rebecca Shapiro, “Fareed Zakaria suspended for plagiarism:
Time editor, CNN host apologizes for ‘terrible mistake’,” Aug. 10, 2012.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/10/fareed-zakaria-plagiarism-new-yorkertime_n_1764954.html
 Rem Rieder, “Everybody does it,” American Journalism Review, Aug. 14, 2012.
http://ajr.org/Article.asp?id=5374
 Andrew Beaujon, “Zakaria explains plagiarism, says he’ll reduce load to focus on
writing, TV,” poynteronline, Aug. 20, 2012.
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/185572/zakaria-tells-nyt-hell-spendmore-time-writing-less-time-on-his-brand/
 Steven Brill, “Fareed Zakaria’s ‘mistake’,” Columbia Journalism Review, Aug. 21,
2012. http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/stories_id_like_to_see_27.php
Plagiarism Involving Sportswriters’ Notes Exchange
Michael Paulson, “Globe suspends sportswriter for plagiarism,” The Boston Globe,
March 5, 2007. The passage in question was drawn from “an online notes exchange used
by NFL writers, who share information with one another in advance of the Sunday
notebook columns that run in many newspapers.” The Globe sports editor said,
“[R]eporters are expected to use the shared notes for background material and not to lift
the language directly from one another.”
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/03/globe_suspends.
html
Point of View: When There Is Unanimity, Ask Questions
A plea for skeptical editing by Reid MacCluggage, retired editor and publisher of The Day in New
London, Conn. [See separate file in this folder.]