This afternoon the Washington Post issued a rare apology for publishing two stories last month that included “substantial material that was borrowed and duplicated, without attribution, from The Arizona Republic newspaper. ” The Cutline deduces that the stories in question were by Pulitzer Prize winner Sari Horwitz and concerned the aftermath of the shooting in Tucson in January. The first article lifted two paragraphs regarding federal hate-crimes laws from a Republic story. The second stole inside information that the Republic had gleaned from investigators regarding suspected gunman Jared Loughner. In that one, “ten of the article’s 15 paragraphs were copied in whole or in part” without attribution. “This is the most serious kind of matter for a news organization,” Post executive editor Marcus Brauchli told Yahoo. “Taking information without attribution is unethical and not in keeping with The Post’s standards of journalism. There are no mitigating circumstances for plagiarism.” According to the paper, “immediate, severe, and appropriate action” was taken, whatever that means.
Washington Post apologizes for ‘borrowed’ reporting [Cutline/Yahoo]
