Journalists Who Plagiarized

In the world of journalism, integrity is paramount.

Journalists are entrusted with the responsibility of reporting the truth, capturing events accurately, and providing unbiased insights to the public. Yet, instances of plagiarism, such as the infamous case of Jonah Lehrer, a former reporter for The New Yorker, are not uncommon. Such actions not only tarnish the reputation of the individual but also undermine public trust in the media.

This blog post will explore the phenomenon of journalists who plagiarized.

What Qualifies as Plagiarism in Journalism?

Plagiarism in journalism is the act of using someone else's words, ideas, or work without proper attribution or acknowledgment. Here are some common forms of plagiarism in journalism:

• Verbatim Plagiarism: This occurs when a journalist directly copies another person's work without quotation marks or proper citation.
• Paraphrasing Plagiarism: When a journalist rephrases someone else's work too closely, without proper attribution, it can be considered paraphrasing plagiarism.
• Ideas Plagiarism: Even if the journalist rewords the content, if the underlying idea or concept is taken from someone else's work without giving credit, it's still considered plagiarism.
• Self-Plagiarism: This happens when a journalist presents their previously published work as new without proper citation.

Journalists Who Plagiarized?

Plagiarism is a serious offense in the world of journalism, as it goes against the core principles of honesty, integrity, and accuracy.

Unfortunately, there have been numerous instances where journalists have been caught plagiarizing content from other sources. Some of them are detailed below:

Jayson Blair

In 2003, Jayson Blair, a promising reporter at the New York Times, became infamous for plagiarism in journalism. The controversy began when an editor at the San Antonio Express-News noticed similarities between Blair's work and that of Macarena Hernandez, a fellow reporter.

An investigation ensued, revealing Blair's unethical practices, including plagiarism, fabrication, and other misconduct in at least 36 of his 73 articles.

Blair quit the New York Times because of this, and his name became linked to plagiarism.

He later transitioned to a career as a life coach, occasionally offering advice during the Jonah Lehrer plagiarism case.

Jonah Lehrer

Jonah Lehrer, a science and technology reporter for The New Yorker and author of three books, faced allegations of self-plagiarism, falsifying quotes, and traditional plagiarism.

As a result, he resigned from his position at The New Yorker and is currently under investigation by his publisher. Despite this, Wired has announced their intention to retain him.

Freed Zakaria

Freed Zakaria, a correspondent for CNN and editor at Time magazine, was accused of copying part of one of his articles from an earlier piece he wrote for The New Yorker. He apologised right away. But he was suspended by both organisations while an investigation took place.

A week later, after the investigation found no new problems, he was reinstated.

Nada Behziz

Nada Behziz was a reporter for The Bakersfield Californian in 2005. She mostly wrote about health issues.

However, she was terminated from her position in October of that year when her editors discovered that an article she had written about teenage smoking contained a quotation plagiarised from a 1995 story in the San Francisco Examiner.

Subsequent investigation uncovered evidence of plagiarism in 29 other articles she had written, which represented more than one third of her body of work.

Apart from plagiarism, the review also found at least one potential case of fabrication. Further investigations by other newspapers revealed additional instances of plagiarism in her work.

Following her dismissal, Behziz initially showed no remorse. When questioned about the ongoing investigations into her work, she labeled it a “witch hunt” and suggested that the news organisations looking into her should focus on “true wrongdoers”.

Since then, Behziz has disappeared from public view. Apparently she has not been involved in journalism since 2005, at least not using that name, and there have been no references of her in the media since then either.

While someone with that name seems to be living in California, confirming this information has proven to be difficult.

Lloyd Brown

Lloyd Brown was the editor of the Florida Times-Union's editorial page in the year 2004. However, allegations arose that Brown had incorporated plagiarised material into some of his editorials. Consequently, the paper formed a task force to investigate.

Following the investigation, Brown resigned from his position when it was revealed that he had plagiarised on three occasions and had shown "many other instances of lack of complete attribution" dating back to 1996.

This blog is originally published on the Bytescare Blog.