PressEthic

Says the Long Island Press:

A Chicago Tribune reporter has accused one of our columnists, Amy Fisher, of plagiarizing a story he wrote in 2004. His approach? Take it to the tabloids—a Daily News gossip columnist, to be specific, through whom he attempted to gain his 15 minutes of fame.

The facts: Ms. Fisher wrote her commentary based on the public record, which included scores of sources—including other newspapers such as the Daily Texan and reports from organizations such as Amnesty International—many of which preceded the Chicago Tribune story. She summed up the story for readers who are unfamiliar with the case and added commentary. That is what columnists do. Ms. Fisher didn’t purport to uncover the story or write a news story. She wrote a column, an opinion piece, a commentary on news that was already heavily reported on by others.

From the NY Daily News gossip section:

As if being tagged the "Long Island Lolita" isn't bad enough, some folks are now calling Amy Fisher the new Jayson Blair.

A Chicago Tribune journalist is claiming Fisher swiped his work for two columns she penned in the Long Island Press. Maurice Possley says articles he wrote with Steve Mills about a Texas arson case reappeared, slightly altered, with no credit to the Tribune.

"I don't know much about Ms. Fisher's journalism training, so it may be that taking someone else's work, putting it through a word processor and lifting quotes are acceptable practices to her," Possley told us. "(But) I would think that to purport to practice journalism, (the Press) would understand this is not acceptable."

I tend to agree with Michael Miner of the Chicago Reader, who said this:

Fisher’s story wasn’t fine [though L.I. Press said it was]. I won’t go so far as to call it plagiarism, but the unwritten code that governs journalists obliged the Press to give the Tribune credit. If only Possley had simply asked.

Fisher, after all, only used a few quotes in the two-part series, but none of them are unattributed. Yes, she is a columnist, which means one of her functions is to add commentary to an already reported news stories. But quotes are quotes, regardless of how public the record is, and if she lifted one directly from Possley—which he says she did—she should have given him credit. Funny thing is, if Possley really had a case, the Trib would probably be behind him, which, so far as I can tell, it’s not. I’ve only been able to find a handful of sites that have covered this story, and most are re-posts of the Daily News gossip column.