12/03/24
February 04, 2005
Sportswriter Fired for Plagiarism: The Worcester Telegram & Gazette fired sportswriter Ken Powers late yesterday for plagiarizing elements of an online Sports Illustrated story in his column published last Sunday. Boston Herald: Powers copied substantial portions of Peter King's column almost verbatim. Boston Sports Media Watch: King intervened on Powers' behalf. NYT: "At least half a dozen" other instances of plagiarism found in Powers' past work. Boston Globe: "Terrible injustice," claims Powers
Oops. Sorry for the double.
posted by psmealey at 10:50 AM on February 04, 2005
This is a good followup. When you compare the King column to Powers' column, it seems like he subconsciously wanted to get caught and fired. It's a blatant ripoff. Getting pulled from Super Bowl week had to be a particularly humiliating moment to get that wish. I've always wondered why newspapers will fire a writer quickly for plagiarism but seem to be much slower to fire someone for sucking (c.f. Miller, Judith, and the New York Times).
posted by rcade at 11:04 AM on February 04, 2005
rcade -- at the end of the day, the journalism corps in their bubble consider plagiarizing a major breach of journalistic ethics, while merely sucking (if that's what one calls relying on less-than-reliable sources and making stuff up to whip the nation into a war frenzy) does not breach some great standard that they believe defines what they do and who they are. Journalistic norms and ethics need to be refined and adapted to the present age (and a fair amount of what people refer to as journalistic ethics should probably be jettisoned altogether), but they are not. Another classic example is the exaltation of the need to be "objective" to some golden rule status that leads to reporters simply reporting a political party's or administration's talking points or financial projections without challenging them when they are, on their face, contradictory or wrong.
posted by holden at 12:04 PM on February 04, 2005
just another ass in the sports world
posted by dhdefrag3x at 03:23 PM on February 04, 2005
Really can't get enough "ass" talk, can you?
posted by yerfatma at 03:45 PM on February 04, 2005
Boy I wish I was 16 again and knew everything. That felt great.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 04:27 PM on February 04, 2005
Not sports-specific but close enough: Dan Gillmore, for instance Jay Rosen, for instance Even Dave Winer, who I don't care much for at all (based on our personal interaction), has a good point (#4)
posted by billsaysthis at 06:46 PM on February 04, 2005
Errr... Meanwhile, I'm not sure exactly why a writer would do this? He must have known that there was exactly zero chance of getting away with it, right? King showed a nice touch by asking for leniency for Powers. Also, why does this incident remind me of Ashlee Simpson's miming?