OT: ESPN caught plagiarizing PFT.com

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

Scandal Alert

Time to talk about this 24/7, put on experts who believe ESPN's past accomplishments are tainted, and hire Mike Fish to investigate a report about a former ESPN employee who was fired but engaged in plagiarism.

This is really small, but I really hope this network crashes and burns.

 

[spacecrime]

Re: ESPN caught plagiarizing PFT.com

I'd guess that's the case here - except it was a cut and paste.

Well, no problem. ESPN is fine with cut and paste. Now, videotaping, that's something else entirely.

 

[spacecrime]

on espn now:



Porter takes licks on Brady

Says Patriots QB gets preferential treatment

November 5, 2009, 10:25 PM

By: ESPN.com staff


From the editors of ESPNBoston.com: A Thursday night blog post featuring Joey Porter's comments regarding Patriots quarterback Tom Brady should have been attributed to ProFootballTalk.com. The attribution has been corrected.

Miami Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter says that as he prepares to face the New England Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady on Sunday, he has to prepare for a quarterback who gets protected by a special set of rules -- as ProFootballTalk.com notes.

 

[spacecrime]

Disagree. Plagiarism is plagiarism. That's all there is to it.

Must be nice to have the world so black and white.

It seems to me that most things have shades of gray, even, yes, when someone's words end up on a web site without attribution.

There is taking someone else's words and knowingly copying them and saying they are your own.

There is taking someone else's words and using them in an article intending to attribute the original writer but forgeting.

There is taking someone else's words and using them in an article intending to credit the original writer and doing so be somehow computers/internet do not work as you thoght and the atribution does not show up.

All constutute plagarism on the face of it, but to say that plagarism is plagarism and that is all there is to it is too simplistic.

I am certainly not opposed to tweaking FBSPN, but I think I leave the pitchfork and lantern in the shed this time, at least until I learn more.

 

[The Hurricane]

Must be nice to have the world so black and white.

It seems to me that most things have shades of gray, even, yes, when someone's words end up on a web site without attribution.

There is taking someone else's words and knowingly copying them and saying they are your own.

There is taking someone else's words and using them in an article intending to attribute the original writer but forgeting.

There is taking someone else's words and using them in an article intending to credit the original writer and doing so be somehow computers/internet do not work as you thoght and the atribution does not show up.

All constutute plagarism on the face of it, but to say that plagarism is plagarism and that is all there is to it is too simplistic.

I am certainly not opposed to tweaking FBSPN, but I think I leave the pitchfork and lantern in the shed this time, at least until I learn more.

Plagiarism does not have many shades. I've heard of kids getting kicked out of college for forgetting to cite a source. The standard should be even higher for journalists.

Really the only major variable at play here is how much of a stink the finder of plagiarism wants to make about it. Plagiarism is plagiarism.

 

[MassPats38]

Must be nice to have the world so black and white.

That is the equivalent of saying you cheat a little or you cheat a whole lot, or it's a little lie or a big lie. Regardless, of the degree applicable, you still cheat or lie. While there may be excusable plagiarism in the public eye (e.g., negligence), someone who makes his or her living off of writing should take the steps to make sure any document published is verified and attributed. That is journalism 101.

I am sure JSn is just applying the basic dictionary definition of "the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work." That is fairly black and white in its application. Anyone who has ever written or published a document is well aware of this definition.

 

[Synovia]

That is the equivalent of saying you cheat a little or you cheat a whole lot, or it's a little lie or a big lie. Regardless, of the degree applicable, you still cheat or lie.

This is pretty funny coming from a Pats fan.



The PFT piece had no original content.

 

[MassPats38]

This is pretty funny coming from a Pats fan.



The PFT piece had no original content.

Only if you are a fan of another team and are looking to spin statements to support some uneducated, speculative premise as to why your team has fewer titles over the past decade. If that is the case, the world is likely waiting with bated breath for your cerebral insight to explain why your team was on the outside looking in for so many years given all the variables involved in winning a football game. Please see the current Spygate thread and feel free to offer your deep insight to that discussion if that is the case. I have neither the time nor patience to explain your alternate theory of the universe to you and why it fails to comport with reality.

I was responding to a specific quoted statement. Take a deep breath, read the response and try to keep up with the exchange. There are not many words, nor is the vocabulary very advanced, so I have the utmost confidence in your ability to read and comprehend what I was saying. spacecrime offered a general statement, I offered a general response. I didn't opine on whether the ESPN article was plagiarized.

And if you see the phrase "original content" in the dictionary definition I offered, point it out. The only "original" in that definition is how the work is offered to the public, not how it is found by the author. You cannot plagiarize quoted statements from players, but if there is more than quotes, specifically those sentences not contained in quotes that string together quoted sentences to make paragraphs, the entirety of that paragraph becomes an original work.

 

[MVPatsfan13]

ESPN stands for Entertainment and Sports Plagiarism Network