Politico’s credibility takes a hit

One of Politico's transportation reporters resigned Wednesday night after allegations that evidence of plagiarism was found in at least seven of her articles. The reporter, Kendra Marr, was outed as a word thief by a reporter at the New York Times who also writes on transportation, according to an editor's note published by Politico:

Late in the evening of Wednesday, October 12, the writer of a piece about transportation policy published in the New York Times e-mailed one of our senior editors about potential problems with a piece on the same subject that was published in POLITICO. Early Thursday morning, editors here compared the pieces, and did see some similarities in phrasing. These were troubling enough to warrant further examination of reporter Kendra Marr’s work.

FishbowlDC, a blog that reports on journalists in Washington, D.C, broke the story:

Those who know her well say there is no way Marr did this maliciously or even, necessarily, knowingly. Nor is anyone internally comparing this to a Jayson Blair (formerly with the NYT) type scenario. They reason pressure and sloppiness contributed to her fall.

When asked what he would tell readers who may have lost at least some faith in the publication's credibility, Politico's executive editor Jim VandeHei didn't respond.