‘Borrowed and Duplicated’: Washington Post Admits Plagiarism
- Posted on March 17, 2011 at 12:46am by
Meredith Jessup
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In an editor’s note to readers Wednesday, the Washington Posted offered “an apology” for borrowing and duplicating material from the Arizona Republic earlier this month. 
In its admission, the paper says a Post reporter lifted material from a report on Tuscon shooter Jared Lee Loughner on March 4, as well as 10 paragraphs from a separate, 15-paragraph story the paper ran on March 10. Although the Post does not note the author’s name, both articles were written by Sari Horwitz, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist.
“It is The Post’s policy that the use of material from other newspapers or sources must be properly attributed,” the editor’s note reads. “The Post apologizes to the Arizona Republic and to its readers for this serious lapse.”
Although the editor’s note made it sound like Horwitz simply forgot to attribute the material to Arizona Republica, the Post’s executive editor later clarified in a statement to Yahoo’s Michael Calderone: “There are no mitigating circumstances for plagiarism.”
A note preceding each story online now reads: “This is one of two articles published by The Post online and in its print editions earlier this month that contained substantial material that was borrowed and duplicated, without attribution, from The Arizona Republic newspaper.”
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Comments (46)
powhatan
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 11:29amPathetic.
Report Post »1776_2012
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 10:39am“The Post apologizes to the Arizona Republic and to its readers for this serious lapse.”
A ‘lapse’ is a one time occurrence. When it happens with regularity…it‘s not a ’lapse’.
Report Post »hempstead1944
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 9:19amUnderstand, now, why newspapers are going out of business?
Report Post »sallyskull
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 9:15amJZS “Snowleapard, the Washington Post is a very conservative newspaper and website. Cut the knee jerk crap.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Report Post »That is about the funniest thing I have ever read on this site!
HeavenlyMinded
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 7:52amAnd to think that in my english composition class I was sternly warned about plagiarism and it’s consequences. I wonder what the punishment will be for the these people? Probably just a “No, no, no!!” with a finger being pointed at them.
Report Post »joseph mitch nixon
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 7:43amALL THIS IS FANTASTIC , because i do hope , in our great country , are a lot of people with commonsense and they will see and act . 3 years ago , i saw barak husein obama , and i said ok where this man is coming from where he is ? and where he wants to go ? , and i said to my friends , if he will be nominated or the president this will be the death of the liberalism in usa .
Report Post »WhatWasIThinking?
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 7:37amno big deal
Report Post »LadyIzShy
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 7:36ami expect no less from the MSM.. shamefully
Report Post »TAKEITBACK
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 7:01amEverything is being dumbed down, why not the Pulitzer.
Report Post »VLADTEPES
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 6:47amGrew up there, read it for years and it’s a sorry excuse for a paper..
Report Post »moonpeace
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 6:41am@jzs
Report Post »Being conservative or liberal makes no difference. The point is that somebody else’s ideas were stolen, and no matter what your political philosophy, that is just plain wrong.
shy
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 2:40amThere’s more then one Post? I though they where all Gorge Soreos sponsored Huff&Puff Post.
Report Post »Arc
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 2:33amAs the intellectually elite would have you believe, I‘m just a dumbass ol country boy but ain’t plagerism kinda like lying?? Well, I believe the Washington Post as well as Sari Horwitz will use any and every bit of “spin” they can muster to blunt the bad PR damage. If Horwitz isn’t disciplined suffiently, they will return to the same style of ????journalism????
Report Post »EL ZORRO
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 2:17amSince I do not have bird, I do not need news paper to line the bottom of the cage.
Report Post »EL ZORRO
Chicago Ray
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 2:03amThat’s why we call it the Compost, it’s always full of shiiiiite.
Report Post »OneFootRandy
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 1:29amAnother reason most of us come to the internet for enlightenment. Print media is just as fat and stupid and lazy as the network news.
Report Post »Chuck Stein
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 1:28amThe last time I was in DC was 8/28/2010. I read the Washington Post the next day to see how it was covered. There was an “ombudsman” piece about how small factual errors and typos could discredit a paper — that credibility was not limited to the big stuff. On the front page of that issue of the Post was a picture of MLK Jr.’s son.
Report Post »The caption beneath the photo identified him as “Martin Luther King Jr. III”
vennoye
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 1:17amLost my surprise over this stuff with Jayson Blair.
Report Post »CaptGregg
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 1:07amThey’ve been cut/pasting dem talking points for so long that they’ve forgotten how to write anything original.
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 1:00amhow is this a surprise? we have mainstream media with no material except fox bashing until recently, and now its just a bunch of idiots spewing how bad nuclear energy is with all their guests carefully picked from the far left anti nuclear groups.
its a wonder the person signing these idiots checks hasnt fired them
Report Post »Showtime
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 12:59amUh-oh! That’s a no-no! (And they knew it.)
Report Post »marine249
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 12:58amwho would have thunk
Report Post »mharry860
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 12:52amCopy and paste media, their aren’t any journalists in print media anymore
Report Post »Robert-CA
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 1:50amAlmost copying your first post :)
Report Post »thepatriotdave
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 12:50amThe Post should have had the writer write the apology with full name in BOLD!
http://tinyurl.com/4rv8xsm
Report Post »drbage
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 8:40amSounds like a good idea, but you must remember just as Democrats never lie-they misspeak or are misinterpreted, a Pulitzer Prize winning journolist(sic) doesn’t plagiarize, he just failed to attribute.
Report Post »mharry860
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 12:50amCopy and paste media, there are no journalists in print anymore.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 1:01amAgree with you there, unfortunatly the AZ republic is no longer a true newspaper, just another part of the progressive machinery of disinformation.
Report Post »ILoveGlenn
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 1:15amExactly! I wonder if they are too lazy to type!
Report Post »butler180
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 1:17amAnd the offender, Mr. Horwitz, won a Pulitzer!
Report Post »Did any one check to see if the the article that won Mr. Horwitz the Pulitzer for wasn’t plagiarized?
jzs
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 1:19amSnowleapard, the Washington Post is a very conservative newspaper and website. Cut the knee jerk crap.
Report Post »seeker9
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 1:37amThe dumbing down of America continues. MSM and msnbc takes talking points from the WH or DNC and reports them as news. Dayton police test standards lowered. The list goes on. No investigation or questioning. It is so much easier to plaigerize. Who really, REALLY, wants to live in a progressive “utopia”?
Report Post »GETLIFE
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 4:52amJZS, are you not thinking of the Washington Times?
Report Post »Rickfromillinois
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 7:03amJZS you moron. The Washing Post is very LIBERAL. You are thinking (or not) of the Washington Times.
Report Post »LSX
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 7:19amLOL Mharry -
Isn’t one of their editors always on the Chris “tingle up my leg” Matthews program all the time?
Just one more reason to fight obfuscation.
*
Report Post »AzCowboy
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 8:28amCopy and paste media, there are no journalists in print anymore.
I’ll be darned. That’s what that button does :)
Report Post »jH…
drbage
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 8:47amI am surprised that the Post didn’t offer an apology/excuse attributing it to the fact that Ms Horowitz is originally from the Tucson area. She couldn’t have done anything really wrong (their opinion), after all, she has won 2 Pulitzers and she is a strong advocate for the children.
Report Post »mark1m1
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 11:14amWell Said!
Report Post »wbedding
Posted on March 17, 2011 at 11:44am“Our Republic and its press will rise or fall together.”
Joseph Pulitzer
we’re screwed, for lack of a better term.
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