September 2009

(In response to loyal reader Kevin’s request) As a media critic, I’m astounded by the way both sides of the U.S. political landscape pick up and put down arguments they were passionate about when they…

Here’s a nifty satire that was posted moments after Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift’s thank you speech at the Video Music Awards Sunday. Kanye was as rude as South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson. Watch it…

On the subject of newspapers chewing their own legs off, the Hartford Courant, is in the process of doing just that these days, first having stumbled into a plagiarism scandal, now by issuing opaque statements while disciplining employees for poorly executing a policy that was bad to begin with.

Connecticut news circles have been in a tizzy the last couple weeks after the Journal Inquirer, the Courant’s archrival, published accusations that the Tribune Company’s Hartford outlet was lifting local coverage of the JI and other Connecticut papers without their permission.

After pretending for weeks that there were no unusual ethics issues in stealing hundreds of stories from small competitors, The Courant announced today that six employees were being punished. Richard Graziano, the publisher of both…

INDIANAPOLIS – The Society of Professional Journalists’ Ethics Committee released the following statement regarding the Hartford Courant’s recent admission of and apology for using other newspaper’s stories without duly attributing credit. The statement issued by the committee is as follows:

The Hartford Courant has acknowledged using stories from other Connecticut newspapers recently without giving them credit. The director of content has apologized and vowed the mistake won’t be repeated.

The Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists plainly exhorts newspapers and journalists, “Never plagiarize.” When a newspaper invests reporting and editing time to produce a story, that story should not be used by another outlet without permission and without informing readers who actually did the work.

Many media outlets aggregate information online, summarizing a story and then linking to the original. The Courant failed to carry the credit from its online version to its print version.

“However it happened, the Courant violated fundamental standards,” said Andy Schotz, the chairman of SPJ’s Ethics Committee. “This was theft.”

Integrity and credibility, two of the most important values in journalism, demand that all media outlets be clear about the source of stories they did not produce. Failure to follow that guideline results in plagiarism, taking credit for someone else’s work, as it did in this case.

Pfizer, a major Connecticut employer, has agreed to pay $2.3 billion to settle allegations that it marketed drugs for unapproved uses and paid doctors to promote and prescribe certain medications. The company will pay nearly…