Plagiarism strikes again Wednesday, November 15, 2023


  

I made a mistake.

I didn’t copy the link or download the content when I saw the reporter from the local daily had plagiarized by column.

I wasn’t going to make a big deal of it, but it irked me that a journalist that has published throughout the nation should have stolen something a small town reporter like me wrote.

Someone said I should be complemented. I was annoyed.

Still, I hadn’t intended to complain about it, yet the more I thought the more irritated I got. I reached out to the person who posted my column and asked him to make contact with the reporter or her editor to make sure it never happened again.

But finally, I decided to reach out to her editors myself, one editor sending me to the main editor, who took a whole day to get back to me and when he did, he demanded proof, as if he didn’t have the copy himself to look at (he has to edit her work and it would not get onto the internet without him).

At which point, perhaps two days after the original post, I could not locate the story link, and sent my copy for him to compare to her story – which I know he has in his archive.

There seem to be some confusion over the spelling of her first name, a petty complaint he used to put me in my place.

Then, he flat out said no such story existed and that she would never steal a story from anyone.

He would have to say that. Plagiarism is a horrible accusation, especially when it is aimed at a person with her kind of credentials and would shake the foundation of the publication if such a charge could be proven.

Buit since I could not find the link, I could not prove it, even though it was clear from his tone, he knew exactly what I was talking about, and had apparently done house cleaning prior to my complaint – showing just how dishonest he was, and how desperate not to have the fact that his star reporter was capable of such an act.

Which makes me wonder had she done this kind of thing before and was her reputation founded on such activities, a thief in the night who has yet to be caught.

While I pointed out that some others in her beat disliked her and her reporting, this is hardly a valid point in making an argument when it comes to plagiarism. Most reporters – if they are doing their job – get people angry with them.

And yet, I knew what I saw, and what I saw had been ripped off from me, and the fact that her boss, her editor, has decided to cover her ass, suggests that the unethical behavior doesn’t stop with her, but goes deep into any organization that would have this editor on top.

At the end of the day, I have to let it go, hoping someday the truth will come out, she will steal from someone else from some other more powerful organization that can turn up the heat on her and on her editor.

After all, this isn’t the first time someone has stolen credit for work that I did. But in the past, I’ve always let it go, which perhaps I should have done this time, too.

Her editor might be corrupt, but he’s powerful enough to make my life miserable if I persist.


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