Regret the Error

An arts writer at the Daily Utah Chronicle, a student paper at the University of Utah, has been fired after editors discovered a trail of plagiarized pieces.
It began when a reader informed the paper about similarities between a recent article by Mark Mitchell and one in the Onion’s A.V. Club. Mitchell fessed up and was fired "on the spot." The paper then investigated his previous work and found other instances of theft. The paper published an article about his transgressions, as well as an apology to its readers. It also gives proper credit to the eagle-eyed reader who first spotted the plagiarism. (Romenesko first picked up on this story.)
It’s a sad situation that the paper seems to have handled appropriately: it investigated his previous work even after firing him. Readers need to know if other articles have been plagiarized, or if something is in fact a one time offense.
From the article:

Chronicle Arts and Entertainment writer Mark Mitchell was fired
Wednesday after editors discovered a pattern of plagiarism in his
stories.
A
letter sent to the editor Wednesday morning from physics major Steve
Morgan Coons indicated that Mitchell’s most recent article,
"Championship karaoke: Beware the holiday musical horrors awaiting you
this, and every, year" (Nov. 29), had been plagiarized from an article
in The Onion’s A.V. Club, "The Christmas-time horrors that await you"
(Nov. 27), by Amelie Gillette.
Mitchell was called in by
Chronicle A&E Editor Ben Zalkind and admitted his malfeasances on
the spot. His employment was immediately terminated.
"Obviously
it reflects poorly, but at the same time, this isn’t something that
only affects college newspapers; it affects newspapers across the
board," said Danyelle White, Chronicle editor in chief. "I think the
fact that we took action immediately and are being forthright about it
restores some of our dignity."
Further investigation revealed
that certain passages had been taken verbatim from Gillette and that
yesterday’s article was not the only one that had been plagiarized…

From the apology:

Trust is the most important element in newspaper writing.
Without
it, editors would have to scour the gamut of written history to ensure
that every piece contained nothing but original content. Sources would
be wary to speak with reporters, and readers wouldn’t be able to hold
any individual accountable for fallacies or misinterpretations in a
story. There would be little reason to read newspapers at all.
We
try our best to maintain reader trust at The Daily Utah Chronicle, but
all it takes is a single incident to embarrass the reputation of not
just our writers, our sections and our paper, but the entire profession
that many of us have chosen to pursue.
The actions of former
Arts & Entertainment writer Mark Mitchell since his hiring in
September-copying or mimicking editorial content from major news
outlets such as USA Today, Salon and The Onion-have seriously
compromised our consistent, collective effort to provide a legitimate
and reliable news source to U students…

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