Borges Suspended

[Pat_Nasty]

CHFF has an entire story devoted to this topic right now, complete with credit and links to the appropriate parties and a timeline of how it all went down. For the record, it was not discussed "at length" before CHFF got a hold of it.

http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Article.php?Page=1359&Category=1

I don't think CHFF whines much about media exposure. The site gets more than its share.

Glad to see they were shamed into giving credit where it's due.

 

[shmessy]

CHFF has an entire story devoted to this topic right now, complete with credit and links to the appropriate parties and a timeline of how it all went down. For the record, it was not discussed "at length" before CHFF got a hold of it.

http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Article.php?Page=1359&Category=1

I don't think CHFF whines much about media exposure. The site gets more than its share.

Good for CHFF. They are doing the right thing and giving the right credit. I have never really frequented their site much before, but now they are on my favorites list.

By the way, that Sunday-Monday timeline is absolutely fascinating.

Seattlestatman played Deepthroat and CHFF played Woodward/Bernstein.

 

[Clonamery]

I was just sitting here, contemplating the price Borges has paid for his laziness, his arrogance and his disrespect for his readers. It's really pretty devastating.

1. He will never be able to escape the label of plagiarist, no matter where he might go. We'll all be referring to him as The Plagiarist for as long as he's around. For a journalist, it isn't all that much of an exaggeration to say that's almost the equivalent of a Priest being called a pedophile or a surgeon being called Dr. Death.

2. Two months suspension isn't long, but Borges isn't going to be able to write or broadcast a word about the NFL draft. He won't be able to comment, criticize or anything else. That's kind of like a 5th grader being grounded for all of summer vacation. All the other kids will be out playing and he'll be sitting in his room, watching soap operas on TV.

3. The two month suspension is WITHOUT PAY. For people who aren't independently wealthy, that is a meaningful monetary penalty. Let's guess he's making, oh, $150,000 a year. This stunt cost him $30,000.

You also have to wonder what's next for Ron Borges. Let's say he reports back to work after the two-month suspension. How do his co-workers look at him. When he goes to games, how do the other sports writers look at him. They may sympathize to his face, but to his back he'll be a kind of journalistic leper.

All of this is worth keeping in mind when you start to think he got off easily. Borges has suffered an amputation. He has lost his reputation forever.

Pats fans may be babies, in his estimation, and he may have thought he was above them and immune to their criticism. Guess not.

Good summation, Mainefan.

 

[patsacolachick]

Seattlestatman played Deepthroat and CHFF played Woodward/Bernstein.

GREAT analogy!!!

 

[belichickaholic]

Ding Dong, the wicked witch is dead!!! :singing:

 

[spacecrime]

He will come back more bitter and nastier than ever.

We can hlep with that. When he writes his first column after returning, everyone send him an email saying, "Nice column. Who wrote it?"

 

[shmessy]

We can hlep with that. When he writes his first column after returning, everyone send him an email saying, "Nice column. Who wrote it?"

He won't be back at the Globe.

This is what happened with Barnicle and Patricia Smith. First step was a suspension giving the newspaper and its lawyers time to research further to either a) defend him to the public or b) fire him without any doubt as to him filing a lawsuit for an unlawful firing/defamation, etc.

He makes more money on Radio/TV anyhow. This may have been an "I dare you, Globe, to fire me and make my day". The newspaper business is dying. I'm not so sure that this thing wasn't totally unpre-meditated by Borges.

Barnicle is more national and making more money now than he ever did at the Globe. Holley right now is on WEEI saying Patricia Smith did pretty darn well for herself after her Globe firing as well.

 

[MDPATSFAN]

He won't be back at the Globe.

This is what happened with Barnicle and Patricia Smith. First step was a suspension giving the newspaper and its lawyers time to research further to either a) defend him to the public or b) fire him without any doubt as to him filing a lawsuit for an unlawful firing/defamation, etc.

He makes more money on Radio/TV anyhow. This may have been an "I dare you, Globe, to fire me and make my day". The newspaper business is dying. I'm not so sure that this thing wasn't totally unpre-meditated by Borges.

Barnicle is more national and making more money now than he ever did at the Globe. Holley right now is on WEEI saying Patricia Smith did pretty darn well for herself after her Globe firing as well.

Why would a "Journalist" commit the cardinal sin of plagiarism instead of just leaving the Globe? He will always be viewed as plagiarist scum vermin from now on.

 

[shmessy]

Why would a "Journalist" commit the cardinal sin of plagiarism instead of just leaving the Globe? He will always be viewed as plagiarist scum vermin from now on.

How much did that "ruin" Barnicle? He laughed all the way to Imus, MSNBC and the bank (not necessarily in that order).

 

[JPatriot]

Folks, like Ron Borges or hate Ron Borges, what he did was not that uncommon.

I write for a newspaper and every sportswriter I've talked to today has said the same thing: "That's what a notes column is!"

Read the notes column on a given Sunday around NFL cities and you will see many of the same stories with a small change in verbage thrown in here or there.

That's the same thing that Borges did... heck, even Michael Felger (we assume) defended him.

The statement at the bottom of the column IS the disclaimer.

Hate him if you want. Be glad he's gone.

But he's not a plagiarist.

That leads to two questions:

1. Why is The Boston Globe suspending him (a bone to Pats' fans, some other performance issue)?

2. How hard will his union fight this? My guess... tooth and nail.

At any rate, as someone in the business (who reads weekly notes columns from all over for a radio show), this isn't plagiarism. Borges didn't try to pass off someone else's work as his own. The line at the bottom of the column makes that clear.

 

[arrellbee]

The almost unbelievable irony is that Borges got suspended for something that, to me at least, has nothing to do with why I regard him as despicable. While I certainly support the seriousness of plagarism and the harsh penalties that need to be associated with it, it's eerily similar to how the gangsters of the mid century were finally dealt with - not tied to the humanitarian horrors that they perpetrated, but for such sterile things as income tax evasion and racketeering. So Borges goes down for plagarism while the despicable things that he responsible for - character, competence, and organization assassination and fomenting ill will and player/team conflict - are passed over. Justice is a strange and blind animal.

 

[Mainefan]

JPatriot, I'm sorry but I don't agree. And the fact that everyone else does it doesn't excuse it.

Here it is, plain and simple: Don't put your byline over someone else's work.

If you do, you are not a journalist. You are a stenographer. And you are a thief.

You are also lazy and you don't have any pride in your work. Come on, man, don't you think you can write it better? If you don't, why are you in this profession?

I have two degrees in journalism, from two of the best journalism schools in the country and I've been a professional writer for more than 40 years and I can tell you that journalism and plagiarism are incompatible, no matter how you rationalize it.

 

[Tunescribe]

Folks, like Ron Borges or hate Ron Borges, what he did was not that uncommon.

I write for a newspaper and every sportswriter I've talked to today has said the same thing: "That's what a notes column is!"

Read the notes column on a given Sunday around NFL cities and you will see many of the same stories with a small change in verbage thrown in here or there.

That's the same thing that Borges did... heck, even Michael Felger (we assume) defended him.

The statement at the bottom of the column IS the disclaimer.

Hate him if you want. Be glad he's gone.

But he's not a plagiarist.

That leads to two questions:

1. Why is The Boston Globe suspending him (a bone to Pats' fans, some other performance issue)?

2. How hard will his union fight this? My guess... tooth and nail.

At any rate, as someone in the business (who reads weekly notes columns from all over for a radio show), this isn't plagiarism. Borges didn't try to pass off someone else's work as his own. The line at the bottom of the column makes that clear.

If you took the time to read both the Tacoma reporter's piece and Borges' piece, you'd understand that this was blatant plagiarism. I was a newspaper reporter for 17 years and am dumbfounded by what Borges did in this instance. It would be normal and acceptable for him to have rewritten the factual information from the other guy's work, but he lifted whole sections verbatim and passed it off as his own.

You do bring up an interesting point about how the union will handle this. One possible option for the Globe is to negotiate a healthy severance for Borges to get lost. Let's not forget that he also is a boxing writer, perhaps he will go somewhere and focus on that (hopefully). I do hope he is fired, more for his poor coverage of the Patriots than anything else.

 

[Clonamery]

Folks, like Ron Borges or hate Ron Borges, what he did was not that uncommon.

I write for a newspaper and every sportswriter I've talked to today has said the same thing: "That's what a notes column is!"

Read the notes column on a given Sunday around NFL cities and you will see many of the same stories with a small change in verbage thrown in here or there.

That's the same thing that Borges did... heck, even Michael Felger (we assume) defended him.

The statement at the bottom of the column IS the disclaimer.

Hate him if you want. Be glad he's gone.

But he's not a plagiarist.

That leads to two questions:

1. Why is The Boston Globe suspending him (a bone to Pats' fans, some other performance issue)?

2. How hard will his union fight this? My guess... tooth and nail.

At any rate, as someone in the business (who reads weekly notes columns from all over for a radio show), this isn't plagiarism. Borges didn't try to pass off someone else's work as his own. The line at the bottom of the column makes that clear.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. It's plagiarism.

It's been 20 some odd years since I worked on a newspaper but even I know a duck when it quacks.

It's just 'sports,' right? Shortcuts and services exist so all bets are off, eh? Yeah, OK, but if you aren't going to change but one word per paragraph like Borges did then what is it?

In the end it's too effing bad. Have some nuts and respect for yourself and what you do just as Mainefan and Tunescribe and many other writers who add their opinions here.

 

[Kdo5]

Nice my email to CHFF is in their latest Borges article, "24" style.

 

[shmessy]

Gee, one lousy internet comment and now I'm a "Fanhouse.com Commentator" - - man, things happen on the internet fast!

http://www.aolsportsblog.com/2007/03/06/how-seattlestatman-brought-down-ron-borges/

Regarding my comment about CHFF, to their credit, this morning they fully detailed the timeline and credited Seattlestatman with the initial discovery. I e-mailed him that info also, as my initial comment was a bit negative towards CHFF who eventually did the right thing.

 

[Clonamery]

Gee, one lousy internet comment and now I'm a "Fanhouse.com Commentator" - - man, things happen on the internet fast!

http://www.aolsportsblog.com/2007/03/06/how-seattlestatman-brought-down-ron-borges/

Regarding my comment about CHFF, to their credit, this morning they fully detailed the timeline and credited Seattlestatman with the initial discovery.

Ah, you're nothing but a "FanHouse COMMENTER."

(emphasis mine)

 

[shmessy]

Ah, you're nothing but a "FanHouse COMMENTER."

(emphasis mine)

Ha! Yeah, you're right, but if I reach 1,000 posts there I will become a "Fanhouse COMMENTATOR"!

 

[gomezcat]

Nice my email to CHFF is in their latest Borges article, "24" style.

OT, but I LOVE that pic in your signature. Long may that continue.

 

[Pat_Nasty]

If you took the time to read both the Tacoma reporter's piece and Borges' piece, you'd understand that this was blatant plagiarism. I was a newspaper reporter for 17 years and am dumbfounded by what Borges did in this instance. It would be normal and acceptable for him to have rewritten the factual information from the other guy's work, but he lifted whole sections verbatim and passed it off as his own.

You do bring up an interesting point about how the union will handle this. One possible option for the Globe is to negotiate a healthy severance for Borges to get lost. Let's not forget that he also is a boxing writer, perhaps he will go somewhere and focus on that (hopefully). I do hope he is fired, more for his poor coverage of the Patriots than anything else.

I, too, hope Borges is fired, and for similar reasons. I see it as akin to Al Capone being brought down on charges of tax evasion instead of murder and racketeering -- Borges has gotten away with breaking just about every canon of journalism on a regular basis. If this is what it takes for the Globe to stop paying him to indulge his agenda against Belichick and pass it off as sports coverage, so be it.

That said, I think it's pretty clear that, although this is text-book plagiarism, it's an infraction in technicality more than in spirit.

You said yourself that "it would be normal and acceptable" for him to have used the Seattle writer's information and reporting without attribution, so long as he paraphrased the copy. As the article was included by its writer in an information-sharing clip service, you're absolutely right. Therefore, all the fuss is being raised over the value of some very straight-forward sentence structuring and word choice.

Let's be honest here: this isn't Proust we're talking about. It's pretty clear that, in the case of beat writing like this, it's the reporting and research that's valuable, not the prose, and the reporting and research was being freely shared by the reporter. In this industry, stealing someone's "scoop" and not attributing it is a far worse offense than simply being too lazy to change around the text for propriety's sake.