Staff Plagiarism: No. 19 in Eight Months

Glen Nickerson, a newspaper ad salesman, has been handed a weekly column on the business page. With this morning’s column, he expands the Sun-Herald’s reputation for blatant plagiarism.

Here’s how he plagiarizes: Nickerson eschews quotation marks around material that appears on a Web page he didn't write. He fails to attribute to a source any information that’s not common knowledge. He uses wording, sentence structure and narrative organization identical to his sources while leading readers to believe that the prose is his own.

Here’s his context: Nickerson touts a local firm that’s using a Greener Cleaner franchise to open an “environmentally safe dry cleaner” in Port Charlotte. When this news becomes more than Nickerson can wrap his head around, he relies on a company brochure or fact sheet (I’m guessing here) to explain the history and properties of dry cleaning solvent. He copies instead of paraphrasing. He fails to attribute or give credit to the people who actually wrote the words he presents to readers as his own work.

Here's the evidence.

Nickerson writes copies: In the 1930s, perchlorethylene (or perc for short) was introduced to the industry. It was based on carbon chemistry. Perc was a superior cleaning agent and had no flashpoint like chemicals of the past, thereby reducing the fire hazard. It rapidly became the solvent of choice for the dry cleaning industry. Currently, perc is used by 85 percent of the dry cleaners in the United States and around the world.

Here's Nickerson's likely source:

Green Cleaning Homepage: In the 1930's, perchlorethylene (or perc for short) was introduced to the industry as an alternative to the Stoddard solvent. It was also based upon carbon chemistry. Perc was a superior cleaning agent and had no flashpoint, thereby reducing fire hazard. It rapidly became the solvent of choice for the drycleaning industry. Currently, perc is used by 85% of the drycleaners in the United States and around the world.

Nickerson goes on: Perc, however, is heavily regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration due to environmental concerns. Further, it has caused the dry cleaning industry damage due to the costs o cleaning up sites that have been contaminated, the ongoing expenses and surcharges attached to buying and disposing of the product, and the public policy issues associated with using the solvent.

Green Cleaning homepage: Perc, however, is heavily regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) due to environmental concerns. Further, it has caused the drycleaning industry damage due to the costs of cleaning up sites that have been contaminated, the ongoing expenses and surcharges attached to buying and disposing of the product, and the public policy issues associated with using the solvent.

The Sun's owner, David Dunn-Rankin, promised readers ...in his personal column last fall that plagiarists are not tolerated at his newspaper and get no second chance. This is plagiarism Number 19 since Old Word Wolf kicked off this blog with the plagiarising preacher -- one of several offenders who continues to be published regularly. And these are just the ones who appear on the DeSoto edition -- the smallest of the zoned editions. Heaven knows what goes on where Old Word Wolf doesn't prowl.