Lovebug Plagiarism: Cline Tells All, Sources Nothing

It’s not clear who “Bobbie Cline” is, but she/he gets the top slot on the front page of The Journal today. Her big story: “If They’re Love Bugs, Why Do We Hate Them?”

Cline is apparently the original source of everything known about the lovebug (except how dictionaries spell it), because she provides not one word of attribution in the entire story. There is no mention in byline, end note or the story itself why any of what Cline writes should be credible, except that Cline says so.

And, speaking of “Bobbie Cline says so,” it’s important to note she doesn't, actually. Most of the article is a light rewrite of Internet sources ranging from University of Florida Extension Service to a Sanibel-Captiva blog post written by a Fort Myers newsman. But not rewritten enough. Like most crime scenes, there is sufficient trace evidence left behind to award Cline the next available slot on Old Word Wolf’s left rail.

Here’s a recap of what Bobbie Cline woke up one morning just knowing without anyone telling her:

There are 200 species of lovebug but “only two species fly around the United States.” That wording appears on a Web page written by Dennis Adams, Information Service Coordinator for the Beaufort (S.C.) County Library. Adams attributes his information to the University of Florida and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services “Featured Creatures” website, but the characterization, “fly around” is entirely his, or at least was his, until it appeared in Cline’s article.

Cline also woke up one morning knowing the common name comes “from the insect’s habit of mating while coupled in midair.” Cline changes the librarian’s “lovebugs’ habit” to “insect’s habit” in an otherwise identical sentence, but that’s what we mean when we talk about trace evidence left at the crime scene.

Cline also woke up one morning knowing “Love Bugs [sic] don’t bite, carry disease, damage crops or fly at night, but they are a real nuisance to motorists.” She was channeling the nice librarian, who put it this way: “Though lovebugs do not sting, bite, or carry disease, they do spatter thousands of auto windshields and clog countless radiators.”

The nice librarian, in his next sentence, notes that a Bradenton (Fla.) Herald reporter said “they are drawn to vehicle vibrations and fuel vapors exposed to sunlight ... and they prefer diesel fuel over regular gasoline.” Cline’s very next sentence is “Being attracted to hot engines, vibrations and diesel exhaust ...”

Cline also woke up one morning knowing lovebugs “have a black body, a thorax that is red or yellow, short antennae and clear wings,” wording identical Charles Runnells’s post titled “They’re BAAACK!” dated May 31, 2006 at a Sanibel Captiva Island Message Board.

Runnells, who writes for the Fort Myers News-Press, lists “Lovebug Facts” in an article that appeared in his newspaper the same day, including this somewhat illogical sequence of ideas: “The males have large compound eyes and the females are larger in size.” The illogic doesn’t faze Cline one bit; she uses newsman Runnell’s sentence word for word.

The nice newsman also writes in his next line that a lovebug’s lifespan is “just three to six weeks and consists of hatching as a larvae, pupating, and then emerging briefly as an adult.” Cline copies it word for word for her report, but never mentions Runnells’ contribution to her fact-finding mission.

The same Sanibel message board reports “they are attracted to anethole, an essential oil found in some plants,” but the proper source for this is Ron Cherry, the Everglades biologist who back in 1998 researched and published “Attraction of the lovebug to anethole,” in the scientific journal, Florida Entomologist. True, I don’t know how many ways one can say this, but it would be nice to credit your source and use quote marks around material you didn't write, even if your specific source doesn't bother with this. (The hidden danger of plagiarism is one might be plagiarising a plagiarist!)

Cline also woke up one morning knowing that “Adult love bugs are vegetarians.” There are a number of sources for this wording – strong evidence Cline probably didn’t write it. But we’re betting she may have been copying from her computer screen while reading a blog, Kudzu Monthly, where other key phrases Cline uses also appear: the idea that lovebugs “congregate ... at truckstops,” and that they “love diesel exhaust.” Even her opening graf, “hard to love bugs” seems like the very echo of Kudzu’s post title.

When Cline woke up one recent morning knowing that lovebug larvae live in swampy areas, she was clearly channeling a radio program narrated by Kevin Pierce with “The Florida Environment.” In spot fe00510, he says: “... they’re found along roadsides and swampy areas.” Cline writes “They are found along roadsides and swampy areas.” Pierce characterizes the environment as “places that have a lot of organic buildup.” Cline characterizes the environment as “any place with organic buildup.”

Cline just woke up one morning knowing that “formaldehyde and heptaldehyde are the two most attractive components of diesel exhaust,” wording that directly from an article by three researchers at the University of Florida IFAS Extension service called “Solutions for Your Life.” Solutions for Your Life.

There's really not much else to say except that the Lake Placid editors didn't even have to do this research in order to decide to spike this article. All they had to do was read it and notice that not one single "according to" lends the thinnest patina of respectiblity to this lie and cheat.

Let Readers Draw Their Own Unwarranted Conclusions

This morning's front page, 7-inch filler, lower right, tells Old Word Wolf that grapes are good for her heart.

That's what a second-person pronoun does. "You" means the reader. And in this case that would be moi heart. Well, as the names featured on the left rail know, OWW doesn't have a heart.

Equally important is another minor detail -- that quaint idea that a headline accurately reflects the story. The article says nothing about human or Old Wolf hearts. The words -- read 'em -- are devoted solely to rat hearts, and rat hearts in a Michigan laboratory, at that.

Copy editors page designers layout artists Headline slappers, heed: Your (yes, that would be you) job is to report what the story says. It's the reader's job to draw baseless conclusions.

Before we move on, note the helpful picture of this rare fruit.

While we're on the front page, check out what's framing the mast: a color photo of Sandra Bullock from head to boob, a red-letter, three-line teaser about her marito-parental status, a refer to page 10. This would be fine if you -- yes, that would be you, Sun Group -- were our very own local National Inquirer or Variety, or even People Magazine, from where this who-cares-leave-the-movie-star-alone item has been lifted. Silly silly us. We thought we were reading a southwest Florida regional newspaper.

Today's Op-Ed Headline

The One and The Only ...

Week after week, Charlotte Sun demonstrates its institutional scorn for good old fashioned copy editing. Obviously silly and erroneous stories fill space with nary a blush from the real people who go to work every day and style themselves as old fashioned newsers or reporters working a beat. Accuracy? How quaint!

Stories run with obvious errors, hot off the wire. Although the AP regularly runs corrections to its stories, nary a one ever appears in the Sun. From paginator to publisher, pre-written headlines are considered good to go: no time wasted reading the story and doing better; no effort wasted sorting Charlotte, N.C., from Port Charlotte. If it starts with Ch- and end with -otte, run it. But I digress.

Today's posts are a collection of copy-editing-free snippetsthat don't really need the attention of highly skilled and perceptive copy editors. Just about anyone who can read could have done the job.

The editorial's position statement is mssing a "not," giving every Sun reader a really good feeling about accuracy, attention to detail, and carefully crafted columns by skilled writers.

Just inches away, a correction on the letters page omits any reference to date, writer, headline, or an issue that might actually set the record straight. And what's with the "transcription error" excuse? If someone on staff is typing "Englewood" instead of "Manasota," then the problem goes a little deeper than just firing all those copy editors.

And finally, a local front correction elevates Joe Kernan to Indiana's one and only former governor. Journalism students who missed it in high school usually learn by the time they finish their second or third story for the Campus Bugle that there's a difference between "the" and "a."

When You Don't Say Where You Got It, We Call It Plagiarism

Today's Arcadian carries an editorial that appeared earlier this week in a Fort Worth, Texas, paper. Susan Hoffman, Arcadian managing editor, uses the editorial without attribution and appropriates not only the copy but the headline, as well.

Sure, next week Hoffman will run a little note acknowledging the borrowing (although the last time she tried this, even the correction was wrong -- see March 4, below). But the practice points to more than just unintentional plagiarism brought on by careless copy editing.

The practice of running out-of-state editorials (with or without 'fessing up to their origins) tells readers the editorial staff lacks the time -- and the will -- to express a local viewpoint on local issues. And when it's time to roll the presses, just about any space filler will do.

Devoting local Viewpoint space to a national story that didn't appear in the hyper-local weekly Arcadian tells readers that their news leadership is reluctant to comment on DeSoto County issues. In fact, dozens of important local stories -- the ones that are not flattering to the powers that be -- never make it to the paper. Filling space with out-of-town "viewpoints" tells readers that their watchdog is a lapdog.

Grammar Bits, the Sequel

Below is a post about an article written by a schools-beat reporter who can't get subjects and verbs to agree. On Sunday, we read the same error, same newspaper, different writer, twice in one column. This time it's the publisher Himself. He's writing about effective teachers.

Tongue firmly in cheek, Himself opines that pols get "much smarter" when they head off to Tallahassee, "...their knowledge and brain power dwarfs that of the local school board..."

Grammar bit: plural and compound subjects require a plural verb.

Later, in the same column, " ... teacher pay and tenure is largely a matter of advanced courses .. and years of service."

Grammar bit: plural and compound subjects require a plural verb.

On the other side of the coin, singular nouns pair up with singular pronouns, a grammar bit that this morning's editorial writer ignores: "... local government is busy launching their own projects."

And what's with the hyper possessive from the same editorial writer? The Venice city manger reports an "expansion of its Knights's Trail Business Park ..."


More Below ... Maybe Not


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Today's Grammar Bit

When a sentence's subject is two things, its verb is plural. A reporter who writes about middle-school literacy should learn this. After all, your newspaper doesn't employ copy editors anymore and it is the story's first sentence.

"Literacy and the joy of recreational reading was a focus at Port Charlotte Middle School ... " **Were

We'll Let You Know ...

Two pictures, one cutline: There was a three car pile-up, literally, on State Road 27 last Wednesday. However, due to computer problems and other difficulties, the Lake Placid Police Department has not yet issued an official report on the accident.

Now, Old Word Wolf has always believed that reporters were supposed to report. Here's a reporter with camera in hand on the scene -- and she/he can't figure out how to tell readers the most basic facts. For example, where on the 600-mile-long State Road 27 this happened, when last Wednesday (eight days ago) did this happen, and did rescue services show up at this unnamed intersection with a pedestrian crossing? Even with a trusty LPJ reporter with camera in hand -- and a publisher standing by ready to print the story -- readers can't be informed whether traffic was halted, if three drivers alone or passengers were involved -- not a single element that might consititute news rates one drop of ink.

All readers get is the pathetic, sad report that a reporter with camera in hand can't report what happened until the cops find a computer that works. OWW is dying to know what the part about "other difficulties" might be ...


OWW usually skips typos, common grammar trips and usage faults, but the editors at “Let’s Go,” the regional entertainment tab for Sun newspapers, have become so sloppy that they really ought to consider hiring an actual copy editor.

Kim Cool reports her visit to Morrocco, and Sharie Derrickson reports a local bistro owner “uses his refined pallet for wine to help accent each dish.” The same writer uses the power of the press to immortalize the observation that “We are from different countries; I am from Europe and he is from Brazil.” An alert, sensitive reporter would have paraphrased the information to avoid making a perfectly nice lady look really silly in print.

Yes, Copying Program Notes Counts as Plagiarism

“Correspondent” John Lawhorne reports a wonderful story in this week’s Arcadian about a family that hired musician Joel Raney to score an anthem in honor of their mother’s half century as a church musical director.

Lawhorne's page-10 opus lumbers along in his unmistakable style, freighted with passive voice (“... was taken up and promoted...,” “a fee was agreed on...,” “.... anthem was recorded...,” “anthem was presented...” “Raney was invited...” “March 21 was agreed ...” “the anthem will be heard...”) and regimented to insure almost every paragraph marches onstage to the uniform beat of article-noun, article-noun, article-noun (“The concert ...” , “The presentation ...” “The concert ...,” “The family...” “The project...,” “The score...,” “The family...,” “The idea...,” The anthem...” “The surprise,...” “The family...” “The anthem ...”).

And so when Lawhorne's flat-footed shuffle through the language suddenly bumps into a bright spot, the reader alerts: Whence cometh this refreshing, vigorous prose? And so suddenly, in the midst of the obligatory bio?

In Lawhorne’s case, the brightest prose seems to have come directly from a brochure that he copied -- not quite word for word, but almost -- almost enough to be charged with plagiarism.

Last August, a Pittsburgh, Pa., company called "Volkwein's Music" left a pretty green brochure lying around the Internet. Volkwein's brochure may not be the source of Lawhorne's plagiarism; more likely both Lawhorne and the nice folks at Volkwein had a bio sheet from Raney's publicist. Volkwein used the curriculum vitae to create a brochure; Lawhorne used it as his own by-lined work. One is publicity and promotion; the other is plagiarism.

Lawhorne: After receving his master of music degree in piano performance from The Julliard School in New York, Raney went on to work as a musical director and conductor for numerous Broadway and off-Broadway productions.

Volkwein: .... went on to receive his master of music degree in piano performance from the Julliard School in New York. After graduation, he worked as a musical director and conductor for numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway productions.

Lawhorne: He owns Catfish Music, a music production company in Chicago that produces music for televsion and radio commercials for major companies.

Volkwein: ... Joel currently owns a music production company in Chicago, Catfish Music, where he and a team of composers create music for televison and radio commercials.

Lawhorne: Raney is an editor for Hope Publishing Company in Carol Stream, Illinois.

Volkwein: Joel is an editor at Hope Publishing Company in Carol Stream, Illinois.

Lawhorne: He serves as artist-in residence at the first Presbyterian Church in River Forest, Illinois where he plays regularly for the services and composes for the choirs and ensembles.

Volkwein: He currently serves as artist-in-residence at the First Presbyterian Church in River Forest, Illinois, where he plays regularly for the services and composes for the choirs and ensembles.

The final give-away that Lawhorne copied someone else's paragraphs into the middle of his story is those ideas appear in exactly the same order as his source materials.

Kleinlein's Crimes Against Journalism: Plagiarism, Racism, Irrelevance

Enough of Ken Kleinlein's "Crime Scene" column. He has already been exposed for basing his last effort on fiction, urban myth and e-mails from friends of friends. Surely Gondo editors would simply give his silliness a quick tap with their delete key.

Not so. This week, he rates almost half the page 6 news hole. Here's what Venice subscribers had thrown on their porches yesterday morning:

A "story" with no source. An actual editor would ask Kleinlein what organization gathered the data showing “murders of police officers have increased dramatically.” Kleinlein didn't wake up yesterday morning knowing this. He read it somewhere. He took notes. He folded his source's information into his column under his by-line. He did not tell editors or readers where the information came from. That's stealing -- an ethical felony called plagiarism.

Kleinlein knows very well stealing stuff is wrong. When he uses information he got from sources that he does not acknowledge, his column becomes the crime scene. His editors know that. But they choose to overlook it for the boys in blue.

Readers also got a "story" with no time frame. An actual editor would ask Kleinlein what time periods his sources compared to arrive at his claim that numbers are “on the rise.” Every journalism 101 student knows how to compare this month’s numbers with the “same period last year,” or similar. Kleinlein doesn’t – and local readers deserve better.

Why 1971-1981? An actual editor would ask Kleinlein why he dredges up a decade that ended 30 years ago and uses it to claim “a number” of the period's LEO deaths are the work of “The Black Liberation Army.” Readers deserve better than Kleinlein's racism.

An actual editor would ask Kleinlein to identify the sources of the “answers” he concocts to the loaded, biased, straw man question he uses to frame the rest of his “story:” What contributes to “this senseless and psychotic behavior?” Readers deserve more than his senseless speculation.

An actual editor would ask Kleinlein why the anecdotal reports from New York, Pennsylvania, California? The closest he gets to his publisher’s circulation area is the Florida Panhandle – 400 miles north.

And, one last thing: What does John Wayne have to do with anything?

C’mon guys. If you need filler, surely there’s a nice press release from a hard-working organization or agency that might actually relate to your readership. Kleinlein’s ego-piece is clearly an embarrassment – he just hasn’t figured that out yet.

Your Turn ....

________________________________________

TOP OP ED FOR Friday, March 5:

Building and maintaining the road to success
By Robert T. Halfhill
Halfhill is director of the Charlotte County public works department.

xxxxxA road is an identifiable route or path that is typically smoothed, paved, or otherwise prepared to allow easy travel. Road building and maintenance is an area of economic activity that remains dominated by the public sector, though often through private contractors. Except for those on private property, roads are typically paid for by taxes which are often raised through levies on fuel. Some public roads, especially freeways, are funded by tolls.

Maintenance

xxxxxIn unincorporated Charlotte County, the interconnected roadway system is maintained by the public works department. The department concentrates on construction, maintenance, renovation and resurfacing. Maintenance crews work throughout Charlotte County maintaining public roads. Maintenance includes shoulder repair, pothole patching, sign and stripe renewal, signal repair, surveying, bridge repair and right of way trimming and mowing.
xxxxx Public works employees take road maintenance seriously. When you are traveling about Charlotte County and hit a bump in the road you usually dismiss it as simply a bump. When a public works employee hits a bump in the road the next thought is usually “I need to fix that.”

______________________________

Top story on the local front:


Top story on the local front:

[... ] The remains of a second bomb were found inside the mailbox. Both apparently exploded while the man was inside.

[snip]

The acid bomb was also filled with BB pellets. Kolba said he believed it was the first occurrence of metal fragments inside a homemade bomb.


And from the closing thoughts in today's editorial: "Just remember, the mythic Pony Express operated for only 18 months..."
MYTHIC: fictitious, imaginary, not historical.

Punta Gorda Preacher Plagiarizes Red Sox Pitcher

Peace River Baptist Church minister Jim Stultz preaches from a largely plagiarized column in the Charlotte Sun this morning: “Moment of Meditation: Playing hurt.”

Last October, Red Sox pitcher Curt Shilling produced a five-year anniversary memoir about a game in which he “played hurt.” And this week, Stultz – who titles himself “Reverend” – was hurting for a topic suitable for his weekly finger-wagger, a popular genre in these parts.

Schilling's editor wrote a headnote to the pitcher’s nostalgia piece as background. Reverend Stultz copied it word for word, then pasted the editor’s paragraph onto the top of his own “meditation.” Next, the Man of God sent his plagiarized “meditation” to local newspaper editors – who surely were trusting the preacher to write his own stuff – so they could publish the item with a photo and byline as if it were Stultz’s own work.

And, after blatantly stealing the editor’s carefully crafted introduction, Good Brother Stultz went on to steal key lines and phrases from Schilling’s memoir.

Although Jim Stultz is not the first Christian in these parts who has found it acceptable to steal the work and words of others, we hope he is the last to get published in the newspaper, where this sort of sectarian evangelizing ("...if Schilling was able to gut out that game ... shouldn't we be able to play hurt for our Lord...?")has absolutely no place in a newspaper.

Here's the play by play:

Rev Jim stultz: On Oct. 19, 2004, Major League pitcher Curt Schilling delivered one of the most amazing performances of his career.
WEEI.com sports editor: On Oct. 19, 2004, Curt Schilling delivered one of the most memorable performances of his career.

Rev. Jim Stultz: He allowed one run in seven innings in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees.
WEEI.com sports editor: He allowed one run in seven innings in Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees after having a dislocated tendon in his right ankle sutured into place.

Rev. Jim Stultz: The Red Sox’s 4-2 Win positioned the team for a winner-take-all Game 7 in Yankee Stadium.
WEEI.com sports editor: The Red Sox’ 4-2 win positioned the team for a winner-take-all game 7 in Yankee Stadium.

Rev. Jim Stultz: The Sox won that game, completing an unprecedented comeback from a 3-0 series deficit en route to the franchise’s first World Series title in 86 years. The amazing thing about his game was that he pitched after having a dislocated tendon in his right angle sutured into place the night before.

WEEI.com sports editor: The Sox won that game, completing an unprecedented comeback from a 3-0 deficit en route to the franchise’s first World Series title in 86 years.
Rev. Jim Stultz: Shilling noticed in about the fifth or sixth inning, that the sole of his shoe and his sock were soaked with blood.
And, Curt Schilling, expressing his own memory of the game: "... I noticed, in about the fifth or sixth inning that the sole of my shoe and my sock were soaked with blood."

Wouldn't You Prefer a Word Processor?

The lede: Because James Abraham wanted to demystify the process of writing and publishing a book, he decided to the first Dearborn Street Book Festival.

Can We Run a Correction?

Nothing to Report Except Plagiarism and a Misrepresented Source

The banner headline screams "Gang activity." The reporter inquires at local cop shops. The findings are prominently displayed in the last leg or two of type, deep in the page 4 jump.

"In Charlotte County, gang activity is not much of an issue," the spokesman says. OK, we'll go with that. This is good.

Over in DeSoto County, sheriff's deputies had a couple of training days and a database beeps when it finds a gang member's name. Good, good; no problem.

In North Port, more training. "They relay the information to fellow officers," the reporter manages to pry out of her source. Good; everyone is on the job.

Another officer says he keeps a list of names and addresses. North Port police report gang activity at a school "about five years ago," and they hopped right on it, The Sun's investigation-by-editor uncovers. We're glad for that.

So what's the news? Well, tucked at the end of the story's fourth graf -- pretty near the top of the story -- News Editor Elaine Allen-Emrich says Florida State Attorney General Bill McCollum announces southwest Florida houses "more than 50 gangs with more than 2,000 members."

Now we've got news! Well,not really. The news-editor-turned-investigative-reporter has dusted off a press release that's more than a year old. McCollum posted his shocker on a Web site in November 2008, back when the state was establishing a gang-reduction task force.

Despite shopworn information, no task force updates are forthcoming from Ms. Investigative-Editor-Turned-Reporter even though her headline bugles "Gang activity seeps into area."

If the story is there's no gang problem because everyone's on top of things, that headline can mean only one thing: The kids on the copy desk continue to make stuff up even though we've mentioned several times that this is a no-no.

Now, there may be a gang or two in Sarasota, but Officer Kim Swatts sidesteps the issue. Instead, she explains there are two types of gangs (Hmmm; didn't we read this on the Internet?), some traditional and some not (could swear we read this in one of those parents-be-warned brochures). But Swatt continues on and Investigative Reporter Tells It Like It Is: Some gangs are "like family;" some don't get along and others do. They tend to commit crimes against each other. (Sorry, Swatts, this is not news -- but not your fault. News is the reporter's job.)

Swatts goes on to list gang-related crime on her Sarasota beat: robberies, drive-bys, fights, gun and drug trafficking, homicide. "You name it, they do it," is her summary. (OK, I will: stock fraud, bank embezzlement, insider trading, orphan kidnapping. I can name lots of stuff so I guess that's included too, right? Now, if you've got some data? Can we get a report on whether the numbers of gang homicides are up or down from last year? Any data on whether gangs are seeping more but enjoying it less, maybe? )

So where's the data on these crimes? The reporter never asks. Is gang crime increasing or decreasing -- either of which would be a dandy reason for the morning paper's 65-incher. Maybe something has changed in the 15 months since Smiling Bill launched that gang-reduction program. Or, if nothing's changed, where'd all the funding go? For heaven's sake, tell us some real, genuine, actual news, Elaine!

Yes, yes: our headine promises a scoop on Allen-Emrich's plagiarism, but first things first. We mean that lede: "Selling drugs equals money. Money equals power and power is everything to gang members."

Very catchy. But not news because there's nary a word in the article (that's longer than I am tall) about who is formulating the kick-off equation. Readers are promised gangs, money and power -- and seeping, if one believes the headline. News Editor Allen-Emrich preps readers for news and abandons them (to their own private musings: "I spend 75 cents for this? Talk about a shakedown by the Dunn-Rankin gang!).

Time for one more failure to deliver? Instead of delivering news, she writes one more feature tease: "Surely there's no "Bloods" living in the area. Wrong answer." Again, no report ever materializes that Bloods live and walk among us.

OK, so we have pretty much the usual troika: A headline to sell papers out of the box but which has nothing to do with the story. It's made up. And, a story that uses ink and paper but generates no light. And finally, a "news editor" trying to get to the bottom of what could be a genuine story, but seems unable to marshal the basic skills of journalism: interviewing, researching, reporting and honest writing. By which, we mean:

The plagiarism. And, for extra measure, a dose of a mischaracterizing a source and misrepresenting its information:

Elaine Allen-Emrich writes at the top of page 4: Today’s definition of a youth gang is an anti-social, loosely organized group of three or more individuals between ages 11 and 24. They frequent a specific territory, have identifying colors, names, similar speech patterns, identifying marks or tattoos, hairstyles, wear the same clothing, use mannerisms or hand signs and engage in activity for money, respect, or to enhance their reputation.

The Web site Fit American MD writes: Today, gangs are described as “an anti-social, loosely organized group of two or more individuals, usually between the ages of eleven and twenty-four, who frequent a specific territory, adopt similar clothes, mannerisms and speech, and engage in delinquent or criminal activity for money, respect or reputation.”

The Web site uses quotation marks as if it has a source for the information, but does not provide it. A keyword search finds no other Web page using that wording in that order -- except Elaine Allen-Emirch and Fit America -- which is pretty much defunct except for this stray page.

The plagiarism is bad, but the news editor's misuse of a source and data is just plain sad.

Allen-Emrich reports a group called Fight Crime Invest in Kids is a nonprofit made up of "more than 5,000 police chiefs." No it isn't.

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids describes its membership as “made up of more than 5,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, other law enforcement leaders and violence survivors.” That’s a very different membership base than the news editor reports.

Emrich needs to mention the organization because she reports it's the source for the factoid that "preventing just one teen from adopting a life of crime could save the country between $1.7 million and $2.3 million."

Emrich can't say whether the millions would be saved in a day, week, month, year or over the lifetime of the saved child because the lobbying group she relied on for the info doesn't say either. In fact what the lobbying group does say is that its information is part of a research study, Meth Abuse Threatens More Crime in Rural Oregon.

Allen-Emrich couldn't find relevant numbers or data about gangs in our little town, so she inserts data from a white paper about meth in rural Oregon. No wonder we call this "sad." Yes, Something is seeping here, and it's not gangs.

"DeSoto Viewpoint" Identical to Philadelphia Inquirer's

This morning's local editorial, apparently written by Paul Hoover (based on the names at the top of the page), opines that the country needs a law to "make it easier to find out who is paying for political ads in federal elections."

We couldn't agree more.

We also think it should be easier to find out who writes the local editorials because it's pretty clear that neither Hoover nor anyone else listed as being in charge of the Arcadian's editorial page actually wrote this one. Someone at the Philadelphia Inquirer did and published it a week ago.

Aside from the plagiarism -- putting your name on stuff you did not write -- it's strange that the Charlotte Sun's weekly insert for DeSoto County is spending space on advocacy that has nothing to do with any local issue. The editorial presented as Hoover's work speaks solely to federal elections and legislation introduced by a New York senator and a Maryland congressman.

DeSoto residents would be better served by reading opinions what won't be covered anywhere else -- the pros and cons of charter schools, aging water plants, and after-hours clubs, to name just three local issues. Hoover has a wealth of choices available for a dozen inches of "Our View."

Except the Inquirer's editorial staff didn't write about any of those things.

Before sending our daily press to the recycle bin, we must add to this post's categories "really bad taste," "questionable professional ethics," and "invasion of privacy:"


The editor who brought Gondolier readers a front page photograph of dead dogs, has now invaded the hospital room and privacy of a woman who was survived a car accident earlier this week.

Brooky Brown, “project editor,” apparently received an e-mail from the victim's “friend.” The victim's “friend” apparently had been allowed into an intensive-care unit and was glad to share the experience. The victim's “friend” writes a bizarre e-mail to update the woman’s acquaintances – which turns out to be merely the next stage in this lengthening series of lapses in professional judgment.

So, Brooky get the e-mail, and what does Brooky do? Publish it.

“... [she] is seriously injured and in intensive care. Her left arm is broken and in a cast. Her nose and some facial bones are broken. Her eyes are black and blue but OK, though the left one was swollen shut at the time. She has several stitches in her face and much bruising. Extensive surgery was performed on [her] right leg and there will be several more surgeries to the leg in the future. In fact, they will be doing surgery on Wednesday and Thursday.”

Quoting from one “friend’s” graphic e-mail that has brazenly invaded an accident victim's privacy isn't sufficient. But Brown needs more, say an e-mail written to family by the victim’s daughters (whom Brown calls "girls") describing their mother's broken sternum, facial reconstruction and the insertion of a plate.

And yes, Brooky gets this e-mail, too. And what does Brooky do? Publish it. In the newspaper, front page and jump. In the newspaper that's archived on the World Wide Web -- forever. Nice work, Brooky.

Let Us Now Get Titles Right and the Sources that Begat Them

XXX
"Now Let Us Praise Famous men" is the title of a factual book ... intones the editor of the Lake Placid Journal on this cheerful morning.

Sorry, George, it's not.

... he took the quotation from Ecclesiastes.

Sorry, George, he didn't. And, it should be noted, the "factual book" has two authors.

The title has its roots in quite different soil. It's called "Ecclesiasticus," a book much like Proverbs but not included in the King James version. It's not "canonical" among the Protestants. But that's a different blog.

What George probably didn't pick up on is that the phrase is attributed to Chapter 44. Ecclesiastes has only 12 chapters. (The danger of writing from quote finders is relying on them... but that's another blog).

And once we get the title right and get the source right, let's remember why the phrase is so evocative. Anyone who reads beyond the first half dozen words is unlikely to mess up the poetry or the power of what was left unsaid: "Let us now praise famous men and the fathers who begat us." It is the unfinished, unspoken, part that lends its power to this title's call to meditate on the unsung tenet farm families and the nature of journalism that unfold in Jame Agee's prose and Walker Evan's photos (the "factual book" George is trying to describe).

George will be a better editor when he learns to put his literary pretensions aside and just get on with the news. Those he is trying to praise may be moved to clip this little piece for their scrapbooks. But before the children they beget get to the praise of the fathers before them, they will have to wade through George's errors and ego.


Let's not even go into the strange juxtapostion of calling on this proverbial meditation that evokes humility and grace to praise a well-armed posse for pumping 22 rounds into a guy they were chasing on foot.


While George was having his little troubles, the tussle with Our Native Language continued over in the Big House where someone on the makeup desk last night wrestled with a cutline and the language lost.

Port Charlotte has plenty of activities for seniors both outdoors and indoors,
with even more clubs full of other seniors to get to know and attend events with.

Ruppel Plagiarizes -- apparently it's Wikipedia this time

About three weeks ago, Gondolier columnist Mary Kay Ruppel was caught red handed plagiarizing from several sources (see OWW for January 17, below). This weekend, her very next appearance on the Gondolier's editorial pages, Ruppel plagiarizes again.

This time, the source appears to be Wikipedia. So much in Wikipedia is plagiarized that it's entirely possible Ruppel simply uses the same unnamed sources as the Wikipedians. And so many people plagiarize from Wikipedia, that it's also possible that she is simply plagiarizing a plagiarizer.

Whatever. Ruppel's words are the identical; "her" ideas march in perfect order with that good book. And Ruppel makes no attempt to identify the source as anything other than her own fond memories (the column set-up is an old Better Homes and Gardens that carried the story of Kati Marton and her family -- her parents were journalists in Budapest and arrested by the Soviets -- which Ruppel also fails to identify in her nostalgic narrative, but that's another sin for another day.)

Here's the duplicitous chunk of Ruppel's column compared to that font of all knowledge.

Ruppel: “The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a spontaneous national-wide revolt against the Community government of Hungary and its Soviet imposed policies.”
Wikipedia: “The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a spontaneous national-wide revolt against the Community government of Hungary and its Soviet imposed policies.”

Ruppel: When it ended, more than 2,500 Hungarians and 722 Soviet troops had been killed and thousands more wounded.
Wikipedia: Over 2,500 Hungarians and 722 Soviet troops had been killed and thousands more were wounded.

Ruppel: In the wake of the revolution of 1989, The soviet troops started leaving Hungary.
Wikipedia: In the wake of the Revolutions of 1989, the soviet troops ... started leaving Hungary.


And the strangest part of her cut-and-paste operations is....


What she plagiarizes is general, common knowledge. The Soviet occupation of Hungary and decimation of Budapest are widely known events; they are part of our cultural, political, and social history. We've heard these things from scores of sources, from eye-witnesses to chapters in our history books. So, when writers refer to the events in order to make a point, they don't have to cite the source for general knowledge that has been described, reported, analyzed and interpreted in scores of sources, unless the writer is debating one particular account or correcting a fact. Every element Ruppel plagiarizes is part of her own general history and common cultural knowledge. She's allowed to report it without having to say she turned to Wikipedia to refresh her memory and get the dates right.

The problem is, Ruppel doesn't get it: The "it" part is where honest writers express general knowledge in own words. Ruppel plagiarized not because she used Wikipedia to refresh her memory and pick up a couple of numbers. She cheated when she stole the wording -- phrase for phrase, clause for clause, in Wiki order. Educated writers learn the art of paraphrase; they learn how to tell the story of history accurately, in their own words.

No/We/Don't

Sun-Herald publisher David Dunn-Rankin has spent a lot of ink lately explaining why his editors do not edit the newspaper's Letters to the Editor. Unfortunately, his hands-off policy applies to columnists, too.

Want to ask Stephen King a Question?

Have you ever wanted to ask Stephen King a question? What scares him? What author inspired him? What’s your favorite ice cream?

First, no, this reader has never wanted to ask King a question. The writing technique -- asking silly questions that most readers will answer quite differently than the writer counts on -- is called “losing the audience.” However, readers who manage to wade through the trite followed by the inane get a little surprise: this columnist believes King can answer questions about readers' ice cream preferences.

The columnist goes on to assert that King is a man who has “impacted society more than any other living writer.” Let’s skip debating whether “impacted” is best reserved for describing asteroids and rotten teeth. Let’s get right to the assessment of King’s stature. But, sorry, there’s no well-crafted assessment, just another in the series of poorly crafted questions:

Anyone else frightened/disturbed/moved by old Plymouths, crazy dogs, freaky twins girls, the sound of a Big-Wheel crossing over hard floors and carpets, leeches, Rita Hayworth keeping a secret, psycho fans, clowns, etc.?

Slashes as punctuation? Fear of carpets?

Well, the morning’s featured columnist may be frightened/disturbed/moved by these impacts of literary litter, but, no, we are not.

Worse than the silly question is the columnist's quite-serious proposition embedded in it.

What has truly frightened/disturbed/moved this reader is the only newspaper in town is publishing rough drafts. And apparently, editors are proud of it.

Lake Placid Prognosticator Reports Without Sources

The headline predicts “Ethanol Plant Will be South of Lake Placid.”

Readers are right to wonder if there had been a debate about location and if city fathers have now settled the matter: “That plant won’t be north of the lake, dang it, we promise!”

The story mentions neither debate nor decision, so readers now are right to question which reliable source knows the plant will be south of the lake. No source is given in the reporter's Prognosticator's lede, nor in the second graf, or jump. OK, so the guy just knows this. It's not journalism, but it's all we have, so we'll press on.

Prognosticator buffs his crystal ball: More than 200 permanent, full-time jobs, plus $1.6 million worth of road construction contracts, are coming to the southwest corner of Highlands County, by way of an Ethanol plant that will be located six miles south of Lake Placid.

Who said this? No report. When was this decided? No report. When does construction start? No report. Why capitalize “Ethanol?” No copy editor. Nearly all the commas in the sentence are incorrect. We take back the part about "writing." Press on.

Second sentence: Seventy of those jobs, in the state’s first cellulosic ethanol plant, will pay at least $70,000 per year and include first-rate benefits.

Said who? No report. What’s “first-rate?” No opinion maker. When do jobs materialize? No report. Is a factory involved? Cellulosic? Ye gads. This gets curiouser and curiouser.

Third sentence: Also local companies will have the chance to bid on, with the county’s “local preference” advantage, contracts for road work and traffic signal installation totaling more than $1.6 million.

OK, in a nutshell: Who, what, when, where, why and how? (And, please, a copy editor, but that's clearly asking too much.)

As it happens, this interesting and significant local story has been developing in bits and pieces and fits and starts over the last two years or so. This story has real news to report – that is, what has transpired since LPJ last published a week ago -- and it has history to report given that not a word about it has been in the paper in at least three months (maybe more -- the archives are constipated).

Let's guess that the actual news -- the new stuff -- is that a local-government roads engineer (the only one interviewed for the story) now has permission, money, men and whatever to start on his slice of the project, probably soliciting bids if we read between the lines. The engineer might have something helpful to say about bids, detours, construction or something -- right? Wrong.

There is more, but it's not about the engineer and his road building mandate. Instead, Prognosticator trots out information about hefty wages, numerous jobs, stunning factory capacity, ambitious building plans – just to rattle of a few issues – and attributes none of it.

It doesn't take long for the interested reader to locate a well-thumbed 93-page agenda item from the commissioner's meeting last week, including some planning proposals associated with the plant. It's filed in city hall and on the Web , but Prognosticator needn't read or attribute.

Even a cursory skim through the document finds not a single number or figure that Prognosticator reports matches what's published in the document. Discrepancies are sometimes small; sometimes not. Are the differences Prognosticator's errors, typos, "variations due to rounding," or new information from unidentified sources?

This reader likes to be clear when reports about wages, hiring, production and so on are estimates from a company management with a vested interest in selling its factory -- a cane-burning and processing plant that's more than a year away from its estimated first day of work.

Lake Placid deserves a reporter who “gets it:” The pitch is to investors, grant-givers (of which there are several) and local burghers. The big picture includes a several-hundred-thousand acre land-lease and sale transaction to one area farmer.

Old Word Wolf is not implying that building a local ethanol plant is a bad idea – it may well be the best thing to hit Highlands since the Presbyterians moved in.

But the reporter Prognosticator has failed local journalism and embarrassed himself in public.