In the electronic age, it has become easier than ever for reporters to inadvertently fall into the plagiarism trap. Here’s the easiest way: a writer struggling under deadline refers to supplemental electronic material from other websites or wire postings. He or she uses the “cut and paste” function to bring material into a story draft, usually intending to thoroughly rewrite the borrowed section before turning the story into an editor. Of course, once borrowed copy perverts a writer’s original file, anything can happen. With the clock ticking and editors demanding copy, sometimes even the most trusted reporters slip up.
State government reporter Jack Brammer fell into this trap last week when he was writing a Friday front-page story about Gov. Ernie Fletcher and a letter the governor wrote to university presidents about their vetoed capital projects. In preparing the story, Jack copied into his work file earlier stories from the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal as well as notes from his interviews that afternoon with the governor and others. As he hurriedly worked his way through the file, he left intact two paragraphs of background material lifted almost verbatim from the C-J. Jack’s story went to press with the “borrowed” material under his by-line. The next day, an editor at the C-J brought the matter to the attention of Herald-Leader editors.
Brammer accepted full responsibility for his actions, attributing the mistake to pure sloppiness. He has been suspended pending a more thorough examination of his prolific work product over the past few years. He also has written a letter of apology to the C-J reporter and her editors.
Brammer’s main concern was that his mistake would reflect unfavorably on the reputation of the Herald-Leader. Like all newspaper staffers, we want our readers to know that they can trust what we write and that we have not taken shortcuts in our writing or reporting. We will keep you posted on the results of this inquiry and we, along with Jack, apologize for this unfortunate mistake.
Marilyn Thompson
Editor
The heading, “A Case of Accidental Plagiarism”, suggests that the Herald-Leader has concluded that this incident was inadvertent. The paper’s print edition, however, stated, “The editors are conducting a review of Brammer’s previous work for plagiarism.” Given that there is an ongoing investigation, it seems premature to characterize the occurrence as “accidental.”
Personally, I think this is a bit of overkill, starting with the use of the term “plagiarism.” This was an accident that can happen to the best of us and to characterize it as blatant plagiarism and to suspend Mr. Brammer pending an investigation of his prior work is an overreaction. Jack has been a good reporter throughout his years there and he is only human, so thus should be allowed to make an honest mistake. You would have been better served to make less of a public deal over this, quietly give Jack a do-better talk, and put him back to work posthaste.