To be a plagiarizing blogger
How modern it is to be the Jayson Blair of cyberspace. The Washington Post's "conservative blogger" quit three days after his hiring because of copying stuff - and it seems he plagiarized for his college newspaper, too.
My first thought is: How silly is it to plagiarize a blog? But that's apparently not the accusation; he seems to have copied content for earlier assignements. Because, really, plagiarizing for a blog is like greasing the softball you're about to pitch in a beer-league game.
Also, the Post is trying to distance themselves as much from this fellow as possible. The story begins:
A 24-year-old conservative blogger...
They're telling us:
1. He's just a kid!
2. He's a right-winger!
3. He's not even a real journalist!
Regardless, he works for a major print publication, and having had a lot of experience at a college newspaper in the age of the internet myself, I must say this is only becoming more commonplace. How easy it is to copy-and-paste from a Googled article. Yet - and this is why copy editors can be masters of the universe - how easy it is for an editor to Google an odd phrase and find its original source. This happened fairly often at my college paper.
On another note, since he was the "conservative blogger" at a "liberal paper," doesn't that make him (another) affirmative action hire?? But seriously, folks...
My first thought is: How silly is it to plagiarize a blog? But that's apparently not the accusation; he seems to have copied content for earlier assignements. Because, really, plagiarizing for a blog is like greasing the softball you're about to pitch in a beer-league game.
Also, the Post is trying to distance themselves as much from this fellow as possible. The story begins:
A 24-year-old conservative blogger...
They're telling us:
1. He's just a kid!
2. He's a right-winger!
3. He's not even a real journalist!
Regardless, he works for a major print publication, and having had a lot of experience at a college newspaper in the age of the internet myself, I must say this is only becoming more commonplace. How easy it is to copy-and-paste from a Googled article. Yet - and this is why copy editors can be masters of the universe - how easy it is for an editor to Google an odd phrase and find its original source. This happened fairly often at my college paper.
On another note, since he was the "conservative blogger" at a "liberal paper," doesn't that make him (another) affirmative action hire?? But seriously, folks...
posted by bp at
11:17 AM
1 Comments:
I fear for journalistic standards these days. Too much:
Infotainment
Poor sourcing
insufficient sourcing
punditry (bloggers are the print version of morons like O'Reilly and others)
&tc.
Perhaps what I dislike most is that I can't trust journalists anymore. Everything I read I've got to turn a critical eye - who are the sources? Are they credible? Are they partisan? Is there spin? Blah blah blah.
By
t'su, at 3:22 PM
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