An article published on the New York Daily News’ website stole two paragraphs and two quotes from a story published on the front page of the San Antonio Express-News. Bob Richter, the Express-News public editor, described the theft on his blog:
An editor at nydailynews.com, the Web site of the New York Daily News, acknowledged Thursday that a Web reporter, Rosemary Black, lifted, without attribution, part of a Feb. 3 Express-News story.
Plagiarism, or passing off another person’s work as though it were your own, is considered a cardinal sin of journalism.
The Express-News story, “Kissing at mall leads to fight in court,” by E-N staff writer Jeorge Zarazua, was published on Page 1.
The nydailynews.com story, published online a day later, “Kissing is no crime, say women arrested in San Antonio mall,” used, without crediting the Express-News, two quotations given only to Zarazua and two paragraphs crafted by Zarazua that led into the quotes.
After hearing from the Express-News, the Daily News updated the article to include the proper attribution. The paper also appended an editor’s note:
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story should have attributed quotes by certain individuals to reporting by the San Antonio Express-News.
This is about as weak as the paper’s earlier correction for twice misidentifying a woman as the “Manhattan Madam.” The note doesn’t mention plagiarism, and it ignores the two stolen paragraphs that preceded the copied quotes.
