Geography Lesson

A letter to the editor this morning complains about a stand taken by “Rep. Harrell” regarding abortion and property rights. None of Charlotte Sun’s wide-awake, reader-oriented editors bothered to insert the representative's party affiliation, district and first name -- those would be Republican, District 81, and Gayle B.

The same wide-awake, reader-oriented editors didn’t notice the letter comes from a man mad as a horse with a burr under his tail – in Stuart.

The same wide-awake, reader-oriented editors ignored the geographic relationship between their employer’s newspaper-circulation area and Ms. Harrell’s district – about 200 miles and Lake Okechobee separate them.

Folks in DeSoto County (Florida House District 71) have grown accustomed to reading letters sounding off about news in Charlotte, North Port, Englewood, Venice, and even Sarasota, that energize readers in other Dunn-Rankin zones but which didn't run in the happy-news-only edition. But trying to pawn off Stuart news, even out here, is a bit much.


Thanks to My Florida dot gov for the educational use of its map.

Plagiarism: Bad in Class, OK at the Office?

A "community relations" assistant at South Florida Community College lifted substantial copy directly from a performer's agency Web site without attribution. The college assistant inserted two, word-for-word paragraphs into the story that carries her own by-line. The by-line tells readers "I wrote this story."

In addition to the copy-and-paste job, the college staffer also paraphrases the actor's agency information from the Web site. All the writing classes at SFCC teach that paraphrasing also requires attribution. Journalism classes teach that paraphrasing requires attribution. Ethical writing and basic courtesy ask for attribution.

All SFCC students are taught to cite their sources; it’s a key part of the institution’s freshman composition course practices. Most instructors describe it in detail in their syllabuses under the heading of “cheating.” And cheating it is. Too bad this student, now turned "professional," seems unable to translate a classroom practice to the real world.

Here are the "F" in-the-course/firing offenses:

Vera Hanford: Eddie Money has been making music and delivering it to his fans since the mid-1970s, and wouldn’t have it any other way. With hits like “Take Me Home Tonight,” “Two Tickets To Paradise,” “Baby Hold On,” “Walk On Water,” “Think I’m In Love,” “I Wanna Go Back” and “Shakin,” he continues to be one of the hardest-working men in rock and roll.

Richard DeLa Font Agency:This straight up rock and roll icon has been making music and delivering it to his fans since the mid 70’s, and wouldn’t have it any other way. With hits like “Two Tickets To Paradise,” “Baby Hold On,” “Walk On Water,” “Think I’m In Love,” and “Shakin,” Eddie continues to be one of the hardest-working men in rock and roll.

Vera Hanford: A student of legendary vocal coach Judy Davis and prodigy of manager Bill Graham, Money began belting out hit after hit. The early days of MTV and music videos launched Eddie Money into stardom. An accomplished musician, he sings, writes, and plays the saxophone, harmonica and piano.

Richard DeLa Font Agency: A student of legendary vocal coach Judy Davis and prodigy of manager Bill Graham, Eddie Money began belting out hit after hit. The early days of MTV and music videos launched Eddie Money into stardom. An accomplished musician, he signs, he writes, and plays the saxophone, harmonica and piano.

Old Word Wolf had a brief discussion last year with the head of the college's public relations office about similar uses of sources without attribution or credit. That department head's response was that "everyone" does it; in the concert-promotion business, she said, it's standard operating procedure and thus OK.

No it's not.

Writing Without Editors

“In place of the Morse code question, the radio operators written test will have more technical questions in place of the Morse Code. The written test has become more difficult.” – John Lawhorne

“She was born March 13, 1922 in Arlington, Va., [... she] was a 1914 graduate from Washington-Lee High school.” – Sugrue obituary

“Risk factors for community-acquired CA-MRSA include those of a young age as children’s immune systems are not fully developed or they do not yet have antibodies to common germs. CA-MRSA has crept into both amateur and professional sports teams as the bacteria spread easily through cuts, abrasions and skin-to-skin contact. Living in crowded or unsanitary conditions attribute to the risk factor as outbreaks of CA-MRSA have occurred in military training camps and in prisons.” – Jana Lynn Filip

“...a 1,400 square foot home uses zero electricity. The solar panels handle all electric costs.” – Lang Capasso



The 100-Book Challenge has nothing to do with reading 100 books.

The mis-named event encourages children to read and chart "100 steps" over the summer. The program defines a step as a 15-minute reading session.

Of course, it requires an editor who cares and who has the will and time to actually read the story and understand it before he/she sets out to write the promotional banner on the local front.

Some Write; Others Type

More evidence DeSoto Sun's publishers regard the "news hole" as merely an annoying vacuum needing to be filled at the least cost and effort surfaced Friday with another golly-gee-whiz column by an office manager (not a writer, not a reporter).

"Wow how different our lifestyles are today!"

Different than ... ?

"Have you noticed how sparse phone booths are?"

Yup; their absence is duly noted. But sparse?

"With the population of mankind growing larger every day and businesses and sidewalks fuller by the hour, you'd think more people would be bumping into each other more often."

Positively Malthusian. But in Arcadia? Maybe the reference is larger waistlines.

"I think people are evolving new senses that allow them to communicate while navigating by each other. They're oblivious to those around us, yet scoring mental points by staying free of bottlenecking and literally bumping into one another."

And those new senses are? Bottlenecking -- is that something like spin the bottle?

"...as you walk down the sidewalk looking out into the streets, you can see massive stopping and going, some fast and others faster!"

I give up; it only gets worse.

No One Knows Their Names

There are lots of things readers cannot learn by reading their DeSoto Suns. This morning's example of not serving the reader is John Lawhorne's Big Story.

Read the story and then answer the quiz question: Name any one of 19 candidates who submitted petitions or announced intentions to run for local office.

Qualifying week for candidates begins Monday

By JOHN LAWHORNE
STAFF WRITER DESOTO COUNTY —

DeSoto County’s election season gets into high gear next week as candidates officially qualify for office.

There are 11 local offices in DeSoto County to be filled by the 2008 election: three County Commission seats; two School Board seats; five constitutional offices — clerk of the circuit court, property appraiser, tax collector, supervisor of elections and sheriff; and superintendent of schools.

Qualifying week begins Monday at noon and ends at noon on Friday. More than a dozen DeSoto County candidates — incumbents and challengers — have already “announced” for local offices, but none has yet qualified.

No one can officially qualify until qualifying week.

Candidates can qualify by petition or by paying a qualifying fee. The deadline for qualifying by petition ended May 19, the last date to submit petitions for verification of signatures.

According to the Supervisor of Elections office, 19 political hopefuls have made the deadline for qualifying by petition.

Announced candidates began their campaigns early in January by filing two forms — a notice of candidacy and the designation of a bank to be the candidate’s campaign depository — with the Supervisor of elections.

Anyone qualifying next week will have to pay a qualifying fee equivalent to 6 percent (4 percent for School Board or nonpartisan candidates) of the annual salary of the office sought.

The next election involving local candidates is the primary election on Aug. 26. The general election will take place Nov. 4.

Of course readers can't name any candidate. John Lawhorne didn't bother to research or report this information. The Supervisor of Elections' phone must have been busy; four blocks was too far to drive (or walk) from the newspaper's air conditoned office. And of course, he had all those ready made sentences about deadlines, procedures and petitions that he used in the same story last month.

"Elect Me" signs are sprouting on lawns and fences all over the county, but it appears citizens wishing to make an informed vote must make a personal visit to the supervisor's office to get a list of partisans and nonpartisans. The citizens must telephone each candidate separately to get his platform. In fact, this is exactly what Old Word Wolf did the first year (2004) she moved to DeSoto County. As a result, three of the hopefuls on three separate occasions showed up on her doorstep, unannounced -- catching her in the shower every time -- to sell themselves. She voted for none of them.

Please Disable His Send Key

Telling half the news
Here’s today’s leading business brief: “Linda Visser has been working at Edward Jones at 501 S. Indiana Ave. for more than six years. Financial Planner Ted Kern was pretty proud of that. He was also very proud that Edward Jones was ranked “highest in investor satisfaction for three years in a row.”

First sentence: So Visser has been working at the office more than six years. Would that be seven years, 12 years, 20? Second sentence: Why, pray tell, does such longevity make Kern proud? Is six years some sort of record on Indiana Avenue? Third sentence: Who ranked the firm? Did the ranker measure local, state, national or global satisfaction? Share how the data was collected(can employees' moms vote?). Do the quote marks mean someone said this? If so, who? And let’s talk about that headline: What in the item justifies saying readers should visit Visser for financial planning? For all the "reporter" reports, she could be the cleaning lady.

Really?
Country Hound Café has “really gotten involved ...,” a realtor says the “European market is really going strong ...,” an upholsterer reports “business on Boca Grande has really been good ...,” and a karaoke bar manager says “events are really working out well.” All in the space of ten inches. Really.

Ouch
The columnist also reports one of his friends says real estate closings and inquiries “are definitely on an upswing spike.”

Why aren't copy editors reading this guy’s work? He’s not a reporter and clearly is not being coached. His day job is general manager of the Englewood office, where he probably has the keys to the thermostat box. But evidently he also has access to a keyboard with a “send” key.

More copy desk observations:
All Sun editions this morning ran as page 7's top national brief: "Mom finds snake in crib." The snake was a 12-inch, non-venomous, common king snake that was safey removed and turned over to animal officials in Brentwood, N.Y.

What Sun readers didn't learn is a tornado wiped out a Boy Scout camp in Iowa, killing several of them; and while "Florida tomatoes" have been cleared in a multi-state salmonella outbreak, growers in two counties (Collier and Dade) have not been cleared. Either story would have been of more interest to local readers than the copy desk kid's choice.

As for the second national brief, the headline the kids composed is:

"Crack down on unpasteurized milk"

One of several ways this is wrong was topic No. 1 in class yesterday: headsup: the blog: Hed ambiguity: Real and realerer. The saddest part is the compound is properly closed in the text; all the kids had to do was copy it.

Stoopid Hed

The headline says "Wonder Woman finds body on river." No. The copy editor is being pretty silly with this one. The actress who played that character, among other roles, did the finding. If Dustin Hoffman had been the finder, would the editor have chracterized the story as "Tootsie Finds body on river"? I doubt it. Journalism rule No. 38: Don't be cute.

We Didn't Read it in the DeSoto Sun

The Peace River Water Authority is nearing completion -- a year ahead of schedule -- of a 6-billion-gallon reservoir over on the west side of Kings Highway. This monumental effort will increase regional water-holding capacity from about a month's supply to a year's supply.

How do DeSoto County residents know this? They didn't find it in the pages of the DeSoto Sun. The Herald's story is written by an inquisitive reporter who asked questions, visited the site, talked to people and looked into the who, what, when, where, and why from every reasonable angle. For the "where" part, a photographer got some great photographs of the massive project. The reporter's fruitful background search turned up enough relevant factoids to make a substantial sidebar.

Over at the DeSoto Sun, three reporters were tucked comfortably in their air-conditioned offices rewriting press releases from the cops and trying to make eight photographs from the middle school "graduation" fill two wide-open pages. Oh yes, they also poured the crop weather report supplied word-for-word from the state ag department. Busy day.

Sad Day for Community News

It’s a sad day for community news. This morning’s Big Story carries a Milwaukee dateline and splashes this brief-worthy filler across the page: A Wisconsin farmer tears down a shed and finds a rusty box filled with deteriorated dollar bills. The grand sum may be $1,700; once redeemed, the man plans to use the money to help pay for a new shed.

That’s the front page. Over in the local section, the local boxing columnist creams over a night spent watching “full impact wrestling" and the page is dominated by an oversized color photo of the event. That’s not enough coverage, however. Page 7 – a wide-open space that might have carried genuine news – is crammed with five more wrestling photos . Pictures are easier pour, I guess, than asking any of the three local reporters to write real stories about real issues in Our Little Town.

When Old Word Wolf worked at newspapers, editors sat down together each afternoon to discuss the day’s major stories and plan how to allocate space to them. Evidently such budget meetings don't happen at the DeSoto Sun. OWW cannot imagine three adults facing each other around a conference table and seriously agreeing the top story of the day goes to a farmer’s $1,700 find. Neither can she imagine three adults – college-educated editors – would agree the most newsworthy local event – two pages newsworthy – is a noncompetitive, commercial nonsport.

Real Reporters Don't Beg

This morning’s local columnist highlights a lot of what’s gone soft with our community of local journalists. His column’s most important spot, the opening paragraph (“the lede”), is devoted to a plea, begging readers to send him some news. He’s desperate!

The next four paragraphs list examples of all the things readers could be sending him: menu changes, anniversaries and historical information all make the list. Whew, that list takes up another two inches!

Not once does it seem to occur to the columnist to do the real reporter thing: dig for a story. Go research an issue that affects local lives and businesses. Cultivate sources, make phone calls. Get out of the chatty, self-referential office and head over to city hall to read the county budget (where did all those state recycling-grant funds go?). Peruse land transactions. Find out why the Burger King was torn down and who the contractor is on that job and how much the rennovation is costing. Will management change? Head over to the sheriff’s department to talk to the staff, not just read press releases. What happened to the federal jail inspection report?

The columnist fancies himself a business writer. So tell locals what's with the Walgreens expansion on Route 70. How does a national corporation decide to build an outlet across the street from the Wal-Mart pharmacy? What does the construction cost? Where will management come from? Who's the contractor moving all that dirt? When does the front door open? There's a major business story right under the reporter's nose, but no one has sent him a press release.

The writer/columnist needs to look at how journalists actually work. Not one of them opens up a story by begging readers to send in news. Real reporters cultivate sources and build trusted connections. They don’t beg for it.

Any Photo Will Do: Readers Won't Notice

The story is all about toxic FEMA trailers: formaldehyde used in the interior glue may be responsible for asthma and other breathing problems in children who lived in them. The story was filed from Bay St. Louis, Miss. The news page needs art. So the child pictured is one of those who might be affected, right? Wrong.

Charlotte Sun page designers found this picture of a cute kid, playing in a children's park near an apartment complex in Pass Christian, Miss. The child is not named in the story; he does not live in the town where the reporter filed the story; he is not identified as ever having lived in a FEMA trailer. But page designers decided he'd be the perfect illustration for the toxic trailer story.

Brilliant...

Joe Gallimore, the Sun's resident pugilist, now gives fitness advice in his business column: in order to promote a local Ju-Jitsu academy, Gallimore said, "Lose weight, get stronger! Kickboxing will give you twice the benefit of any other aerobic exercise because you are making contact." Can you give readers a source for this assertion, Joe?

Plagiarism for the Vets

Barbara Oehlbeck offers Sun-Herald readers a feature today that explains the origins of "Decoration Day." Unfortunately, she didn't explain the origins of 99 percent of her prose in the article. Old Word Wolf is happy to remedy Oehlbeck's oversight.

For most of the article, Oehlbeck appears to have cut and pasted directly from The History Channel's Web site. Where the History Channel leaves off, Oehlbeck turns to World Book Encyclopedia, an excerpt of which has been reposted -- with attribution -- at Ancestors.com. Here's the word-for-word comparison of Oehlbeck, writing for the Sun-Herald under her by-line with no further attribution, and the sources she appears to have appropriated as a fitting memorial to those who died for their country.

The History Channel: Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day because it was a time set aside to honor the nation's Civil War dead by decorating their graves.
Oehlbeck: Turning back to 1868, we find the beginnings of what is now known as Memorial Day, a time that was set aside to honor the nation’s Civil War dead by decorating their graves.
The History Channel: It was first widely observed on May 30, 1868, to commemorate the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers, by proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of former sailors and soldiers. On May 5, 1868, Logan declared in General Order No. 11 that: The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.
Oehlbeck: The day was first widely observed on May 30, 1868, to commemorate the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers by proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of former sailors and soldiers. On May 5, 1868, Gen. Logan declared in General Order No. 11 that: The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.
The History Channel: During the first celebration of Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery.
Oehlbeck: During the first celebration of Decoration Day, Gen. James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery.
The History Channel: This 1868 celebration was inspired by local observances of the day in several towns throughout America that had taken place in the three years since the Civil War.
Oehlbeck: This 1868 celebration was inspired by local observances of the day in several towns throughout America that had taken place in the three years since the Civil war.
The History Channel: In 1966, the federal government, under the direction of President Lyndon Johnson, declared Waterloo, N.Y., the official birthplace of Memorial Day. They chose Waterloo—which had first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866—because the town had made Memorial Day an annual, community-wide event during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.
Oehlbeck: In 1966, the federal government, under the direction of President Lyndon Johnson, declared Waterloo, N.Y., the official birthplace of Memorial Day. They chose Waterloo—which had first celebrated the day on May 5, 1866—because the town had made Memorial Day an annual, community-wide event during which businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of soldiers with flowers and flags.
World Book via Ancestors dot com: To honor members of the armed forces who died at sea, some ports of the United States also organize ceremonies where tiny ships filled with flowers are set afloat on the water. A boat filled with flowers, made by the students of Easton High School, is set afloat on the Delaware River. Since the end of World War I, Memorial Day has also been Poppy Day. Ex-servicemen sell small, red artificial poppies to help disabled veterans.
Oehlbeck: To honor members of the armed forces who died at sea, some ports of the United States also organize ceremonies where tiny ships filled with flowers are set afloat on the water. A boat filled with flowers, made by the students of Easton High School, is set afloat on the Delaware River.Since the end of World War I, Memorial Day has also been Poppy Day. Ex-servicemen sell small, red artificial poppies to help disabled veterans.
World Book: Memorial Day originated during the Civil War when some Southern women chose May 30 to decorate soldiers' graves. The women honored the dead of both the Union and Confederate armies. It is believed that a Virginia woman, Cassandra Oliver Moncure, was largely responsible. Of French origin, she may have chosen May 30 because in France this date was "The Day of the Ashes." This French memorial day commemorated the return of Napoleon Bonaparte's remains to France from St. Helena.
Oehlbeck: It is believed that a Virginia woman, Cassandra Oliver Moncure, was largely responsible for May 30 Being chosen. Of French origin, she may have chosen May 30 because in France this date was "The Day of the Ashes." This French memorial day commemorated the return of Napoleon Bonaparte's remains to France from St. Helena.

For the rest of "her" article, Oehlbeck returns to The History Channel: Today, Memorial Day is celebrated at Arlington National Cemetery with a ceremony in which a small American flag is placed on each grave. Also, it is customary for the president or vice-president to give a speech honoring the contributions of the dead and lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. About 5,000 people attend the ceremony annually.
Oehlbeck: Nationally, Memorial Day is celebrated at Arlington National Cemetery with a ceremony in which a small American flag is placed on each grave. Also, it is customary for the president or vice-president to give a speech honoring the contributions of the dead and lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. About 5,000 people attend the ceremony annually.



Oehlbeck purports to be a professional writer: "author of nonfiction books, articles, and essays..." and she runs her own Web site to feature her local-color and history pieces. Today's article suggests that the professional is not always professinal about giving credit to her sources and that she's liberal with the cut-and-paste feature of her computer.

When You Steal Something, Tell Us Where it Came From
And over on page 11, local businesman Robert Dunaway "submits" an article about "The Bicycle -- a clean, green, perfect machine." Old Word Wolf gives him credit for not putting a real byline on the top of the article.

However, he fails to recognize anywhere in the piece that it originally appeared on http://penncycle.com/page.cfm?PageID=952 and it's a piece of corporate writing from start to finish.

OWW is sure Penn Cycle is happy to promote biking and may even not mind the outright theft of its article. But newspaper readers expect better. If you steal something, say where you got it.

CTL+C, CTL+V + Byline = Another Clip for the Resume File

It’s Friday and you’re a reporter for America’s Best Community Daily. Page designers need 12 inches for the bottom of Saturday’s local front. It’s too hot to leave the air-conditioned office. It’s too late in the day to make any phone calls. What’s a reporter to do?

Easy. You click on the electronic in-basket, and voila! A decently written news release from the state’s commissioner of consumer services about how dry things are pops up on the screen.

Ctl+C From the electronic in-basket: Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson is urging people across the state to be extremely cautious about their outdoor activities this weekend to prevent new wildfires from occurring.
Ctl+V: “Reporter’s” version: Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson wants Floridians to be cautious about their outdoor activities this weekend to prevent new wildfires from occurring.

Ctl+C: From the electronic in-basket: "People don't realize how many fires are started by a spark from a piece of equipment outdoors," Bronson said in a statement. "Right now, the conditions are such that the public needs to be extremely cautious with equipment, with outdoor barbecues and remember not to throw lit materials out the car window."
Ctl+V: “Reporter’s” version: "People don't realize how many fires are started by a spark from a piece of equipment outdoors," Bronson said in a statement. "Right now, the conditions are such that the public needs to be extremely cautious with equipment, with outdoor barbecues and remember not to throw lit materials out the car window."

Ctl+C From the electronic in-basket: Bronson is also advising people to forego any yard waste burning until the weather conditions improve. Six counties have instituted burn bans, but Bronson says conditions are not good for yard waste burning in any area of the state.
Ctl+V “Reporter:” Bronson also advises people to not burn yard waste until dry conditions improve. Six counties have instituted burn bans, but Bronson says conditions are not good for yard-waste burning in any area of the state.
[...]

Ctl+C Electronic in-basket: “Even if some parts of Florida are fortunate enough to get some rain this weekend, it won’t be enough to eliminate the danger,” Bronson said. “We are still in a deficit rainfall situation and there is a lot of dried out vegetation which acts as a fuel for fires. Also, the same storms that may bring rain will also bring strong winds as well which is real problem for firefighters.”
Ctl+V “Reporter:” “Even if some parts of Florida are fortunate enough to get some rain this weekend, it won’t be enough to eliminate the danger,” Bronson said. “We are still in a deficit rainfall situation and there is a lot of dried out vegetation which acts as a fuel for fires. Also, the same storms that may bring rain will also bring strong winds as well which is real problem for firefighters.”

For this, the parents paid for J-school?

Our Watermelons are Proud

"The Watermelon Festival, an annual event in Arcadia for 23 years, raises the consciousness and pride of one of DeSoto County's most important crops."

There's no watermelon like a proud watermelon! And a proud watermelon with its consciousness raised is a thing to behold!

Thanks to John Lawhorne for today's giggle.

Plagiarism Plays into Corporate PR Machine

When we copy the words or ideas we found on someone’s Web site and fail to acknowledge the source, it’s called plagiarism.

Starting in about the 10th grade, Florida language-arts teachers school students in two important writing skills. The first is paraphrasing, that is, expressing ideas we read about in our own words. The second is citing the source of the ideas we paraphrase.

Ethical journalists and editors practice these skills on a daily basis. Either they use quotation marks, quote someone word for word and append a little tag at the end along the lines of “Smith said” or “according to a press release from Senator Windbag’s office,” or some such. Or, they skip the quotation marks and put the news into their own words – paraphrasing that’s usually shorter, clearer and less ambiguous than the original (although there are numerous exceptions to this ideal).

Even when the information is paraphrased, ethical journalists and conscientious reporters still say “Jones said,” and “according to police reports.” They cite their sources.

Somewhat complicating this clear edict are publicity departments that want to help an organization get out the word about worthy activities. Generally, PR folks are happy to have local organizers use prepared material. They love to see their upbeat words folded into locally produced news stories and notices.

What the locals don’t get is that the standards of journalism, fairness, and Miss Crabtree’s 10th grade language arts class still require an acknowledgement of those PR sources. To do otherwise is to lie about who wrote the material – and to hide from the reader important information about the possible motives of the information provider.

As it happens, there’s a perfect example of this lie in the morning DeSoto Sun. Cherie A. Hollingsworth, the DeSoto County 4-H extension program assistant, has placed her byline on top of a news item about a public speaking contest for club members. She did a yeoman’s job of getting in all the local names of the contestants, judges, and topics.

But she blew it with the three paragraphs she tacked onto to her locally assembled copy:

Hollingsworth claims that she wrote: Florida 4-H is proud to offer the annual 4-H Tropicana public speaking contest. Working with youth in grades four to six, this contest helps thousands of young people annually learn how to write and deliver a speech. More than 150,000 young people in more than 50 Florida counties at this grade-level have participated.

Tropicana has sponsored the contest since 1969 and provides classroom materials for teachers, certificates of participation, medallions for school winners, trophies for county winners, summer camp scholarships and Tropicana orange-juice refreshments for county contests. Close to 2 million students have participated in this program since its beginning.
Tropicana Products, a division of PepsiCo Inc., is the leading producer and marketer of branded fruit juices.

In fact, Hollingsworth copied “boilerplate paragraphs,” so called because they are standardized wording repeated without changing a comma in scores of prepared news releases. Hollingsworth probably found the copy at the “news and information page” of the Florida 4-H Web site describing the contest. Here's the Web site version:

Florida 4-H is very proud of the 4-H/Tropicana Public Speaking Contest. Working with youth in grades 4-6, this contest helps thousands of young people annually learn how to write and deliver a speech. More than 150,000 young people in over 50 Florida counties in grades 4-6 participated in the contest last year

Tropicana has sponsored the contest since 1969 and provides classroom materials for teachers, certificates of participation, medallions for school winners, trophies for county winners, summer camp scholarships and Tropicana orange juice refreshments for county contests. Close to 2 million students have participated in this program since its beginning.
Tropicana Products, Inc., a division of PepsiCo, Inc., is the leading producer and marketer of branded fruit juices.

Notice the little advertisement, for PepsiCo?

Hollingsworth is not a trained journalist and is probably oblivious to the long, slanted shadow the line casts over the whole effort. A professional reporter would have paraphrased the information in all three paragraphs and clearly attributed the information (cited the source), ending on a note something along the lines of “Pepsi Co. is the parent company of Tropicana Products, which provided classroom materials and prizes for the contest as a publicity effort in 50 Florida counties.”

A real newspaper editor or publisher concerned with his or her newspaper’s reputation for objectivity would never have allowed the PR department's copy to leave the desk.

Hollingsworth played right into the hands of the corporate PR machine – and she plagiarized to win the honor.

Reporter Not Skeptical as She Should Be

Here's an interesting update on the May 9 blog post, "Skeptical Copy Editors Overlooked This One."

Old Word Wolf wrote to offer up FBI data about child predators lurking on the Internet back in the early 1990's, and the reporter, Pam Staik, responded: "The person named Alicia, as stated in the article, is believed by the State Attorney's office to be the first known victim of a child predator. This information was repeatedly stated in the presentation, and it was backed by a national research firm. I am sorry that you believe the statement was misleading, but I wrote everything in that article based on the facts given to me - as did at least four other media news groups who also reported the same information."

So, here we have a reporter who would rather defend the indefensible than check out the facts. Is Old Word Wolf being mean to point out that this is not in the best tradition of journalism?

Double Header: Quack Plagiarizes

This week's Lake Placid Journal’s edition of Feeling Fit features a story too good to be true. For one thing, it’s quackery, plain and simple, promoted by a “master herbalist” who needs to recoup her $1800 investment in a foot-bath detoxifier from gullible spa-goers.

But more important, the Winter Haven quack has apparently plagiarized her story. The article is nearly identical to a 2006 posting by a South Carolina spa quack (scroll down about five entries). Here’s the side-by-side comparison.

Corlis Johnson of Winter Haven, writes her own top to the article, but quickly moves in her second paragraph to a nearly perfect copy of a colleague in quackery from North Carolina:
xxxxxxxxxxxxx Tired of feeling tired?
Today, it’s our good fortune to live in an age in which remarkable advances in medicine are giving us potent new tools to help us live longer healthier lives. As a pharmacist specializing in alternative treatments. I am always seeking new ways to help my clients improve their health. One new technology that I am excited about is Bio-Electric Stimulating Technique. It works to help your body strengthen and balance itself, recharging your body’s “battery.”

Here's where the copy cat enters. Our Winter Haven quack writes:
xxxThe unit works through the most basic and plentiful substance in your body — water! xxxThe human body is approximately 80 percent water.
xxxWater is an excellent conductor of electricity. The human body functions off of electromagnetic signals.
xxxThe brain sends signals to each part of the body and back to the brain. When cells have enough energy they are able to function properly. The new Bioelectric Stimulating technique uses an Energy Foot Spa that electrically charges water in a foot bath.
xxxThe water (which your feet soak in) charges your body which allows the body to absorb vital energy on a cellular level, creating cell balance.

And the North Carolina quack wrote some two years ago:
xxxThe unit works through the most basic and plentiful substance in your body: water! xxxThe human body is approximately 80% water. Water is an excellent conductor of electricity. The human body functions off of electro-magnetic signals. The brain sends signals to each part of the body and back to the brain. When cells have enough energy they are able to function properly. The Energy Foot Spa charges the water and the water (which your feet soak in) charges your body. This allows the body to absorb vital energy on a cellular level, creating cell balance.

Winter Haven Quack:
xxOnce the body receives the energy, the body starts detoxing on its own. This may happen through the feet while in the bath, or through the urinary system, bowels and skin. As the Energy Foot Spa starts detoxifying and energizing on the cellular level, the body is able to release waste products more readily.
xxxThe unit charges the water and the water charges the entire body. Similar to a car battery that charges a car, the human body greatly benefits from being re-charged.

North Carolina Quack:
xxOnce the body receives the energy, the body starts detoxing on its own. This may happen through the feet while in the bath, or through the urinary system, bowels and skin. As the Energy Foot Spa starts detoxifying and energizing the system on a cellular level, the body is able to release waste products more readily.

xxxThe Aqua Chi unit charges the water and the water (in which your feet are soaking) charges your entire body!. Similar to a car battery that charges a car, the human body greatly benefits from being re-charged.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxWhat to expect
Winter Haven Quack:
xxxAn energy foot bath is a natural health modality that may help you eliminate toxins and increase your overall sense of health and well-being.
North Carolina Quack:
xxxIn just 35 minutes, the Aqua Chi unit may energize cells, may balance and strengthen the body to eliminate toxins and may increase your overall sense of health and well-being.
At this point, Winter Haven Quack departs from the script and skips the warnings about not treating clients who wear a pacemaker, might be pregnant, has had an organ transplant or takes prescription blood thinners. Instead, Winter Haven Quack prescribes the device for low energy, depression, anxiety, headaches, blood pressure, joint pain, insomnia, menopausal symptoms, muscular pain, constipation, skin conditions and indigestion.

xxxAnd just so we know, she explains away the murky water and gives us some hokus pokus about the body absorbing energy from the water:
xxxAt the end of an energizing foot spa treatment, the footbath will always be discolored. Much of this discoloration is due to the minerals in the water or the type of sea salt that is being used in the foot bath, and some of it may be due to the body releasing toxins from your skin into the water. The color changes will vary between clients and sessions.
xxxThe important thing is to realize that the machine itself is not pulling things out of the body, rather while your body absorbs the energy in the water it is absorbing vital energy on cellular level. Once the body receives the energy, it starts detoxing on its own. The results can be dramatic — eliminating the toxins and giving you more energy and vitality
Corlis Johnson is a holistic pharmacist, master herbalist, nutritionist, and weight loss
specialist. She owns My Natures Delight Natural Foods and Herb Shop at 3015 Cypress Gardens Rd., Winter Haven.

Old Word Wolf isn't going to take the time or effort to debunk the idea that the body is absorbing "vital energy" on a "cellular level" from a salty foot wash and all the devolves from there. Maybe later.

Plagiarism for Mom

Speaking of Lake Placid Journal, its viewpoint page carries a regular column by Mat Delaney “From the Porch.” This week, it's his panegyric to mothers. The column carries his by-line and no other source is listed, which tells readers he alone composed “Moms Have the Toughest Job in the World."

Since the praise from his pen sounded a bit familiar, Old Word Wolf went prowling on the Internet, and guess what she found.

Delaney seems to have posted his piece all over the ’net -- since at least back in 2005 on the Izania Web page for the Black Business Community, where he called it The Hardest Job on the Planet.

At about the same time, Delaney seems to have posted it anonymously at Kentucky Moms. Not to leave the kids out, Delaney seems to have posted it again over at site called Super Kids Education Software. And then again at Super Laugh as Mom's Resume.

Do I believe Delaney actually wrote his little essay “From the Porch?” Of course not. He wrote it from the Internet. Just because of its coincidentally great name, Chaotic cheats.com, I'm going to use its text for the line-by-line comparison. Here goes.

Mommy Job Description?
Cheats: POSITION : Mother, Mom, Mama, Mommy, Momma, Ma
Delaney: I’ve often said that being a mother has to be the toughest job in the world. At the least it must be near the top of the list. Ever wonder what the job description for a mom would look like. Maybe something like this: POSITION: Mom, Mommy, Mama, Ma.

Cheats: JOB DESCRIPTION : Long term, team players needed, for challenging permanent work in an, often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities. Travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.
Delaney: JOB DESCRIPTION: Long term, challenging work in an often chaotic environment. Must possess excellent communication and organizational skills. Must be willing to work variable hours, which include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required; travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required. Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next.

Cheats: RESPONSIBILITIES : The rest of your life. Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs $5. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly. Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf. Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers. Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects. Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks. Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next. Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys , and battery operated devices. Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product.
Delaney: RESPONSIBILITIES: This is a lifetime position with few monetary rewards. Must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule yet be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case the screams from the backyard are screams of distress. Must be willing to face technical challenges such as sluggish toilets and stuck zippers. Must maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects. Floor maintenance and janitorial work an essential part of job. Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for all ages. Must handle assembly and product safety testing of cheap plastic toys and battery operated devices. Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product.

Cheats: POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT &PROMOTION : Virtually none. Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you.
Delaney: POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION: None. A mother’s job is to remain in the same position, without complaining. But she is expected to constantly update skills to cope with ever-evolving issues.

Cheats: PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE : None required unfortunately. On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.
Delaney: PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE: None required, unfortunately. But on-thejob training offered on an exhausting basis.

Cheats: WAGES AND COMPENSATION : Get this! You pay them! Offering frequent raises and bonuses. A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent. When you die, you give them whatever is left. The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.
Delaney: WAGES AND COMPENSATION: Pay? Moms don’t get paid. In fact, they frequently offer bonuses to their children. A balloon payment is due when the kids turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent. When you die, you give them whatever is left.

Cheats: BENEFITS : While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered; this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth and free hugs for life if you play your cards right. Forward this on to all the Moms you know, in appreciation for everything they do on a daily basis, and let them know they are appreciated. Plus, being a mother, I'm too tired to type everyone's name.
Delaney: BENEFITS: No health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered. But the job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth and unconditional love. There is no retirement option.

Now, Delaney made a few tweaks and moved around a line or two. But to OWW's mind that's just evidence of trying to cover his tracks.

Shame on any journalist plagiarising anytime. Somehow it seems even more reprehensible to plagiarise one's praise of motherhood.

Skeptical Copy Editors Overlooked This One

Does the lead on yesterday's Big Story sound strange to anyone but me?

PUNTA GORDA--Hundreds of freshmen students sitting in the Center for Performing Arts &Education at Charlotte High School Wednesday fell silent as they listened to the painful words of a 19-year-old girl named Alicia, who at 13 became the first known victim of a child predator.

The reporter is telling readers that before six years ago, or sometime in 2002, there were no known victims of child predators. Could this possibly be true?

Of course not. Any moderately experienced copy editor would have raised this obvious question with the reporter. It would take an alert, motivated copy editor about 30 seconds to "Google" an FBI site or two and locate something like this -- if only to narrow the topic to cyber-predators, which was the topic of Pamela Staik's feature story:

In May 1993, FBI agents identified two suspects who had sexually exploited numerous juveniles over a 25-year period ... [and the use of] computer telecommunications was rapidly becoming one of the most prevalent techniques by which some sex offenders recruited children [...].

Predators and victims didn't suddenly materialize in 2002.

To read more ...


The Sun Coast Media Group gives DeSoto e-edition subscribers an extra bonus -- a weekly peek at the Lake Placid Journal. It's a nice little tab, but sorely in need of copy editors. For example, today's front page story carried the headline over a story about South Florida Community College's Class of 2008: "SFCC Grads Honored Commencement Monday." No, the graduates did not honor the commencement. They may have honored their mothers and their fathers and their professors and deans, but chances are the grads were honored AT commencement.



Farther down in the story, the writer reports students waving diplomas, "happily signifying that they had earned the right to call themselves high school graduates."

Journalism's Second W Stands for "What," as in "What They Said"

The citizenry of Arcadia this morning read that city council persons "put questions" to city-attorney hopefuls last night. As they read deeper, they found out about scheduling, how the questions were provided (written out, ahead of time), and that they "ranged" from here to there.

What readers don't know is what anybody actually said. The reporter provides not one word from his shirt-pocket tape recorder quoting either of the job applicants.

Here's the text; see if you can find one thing that actually informs the community in a meaningful way -- and I don't mean the news that the city recorder read the questions out loud.

ARCADIA — At a special public meeting on Tuesday, the Arcadia City Council put questions to two of the three applicants for the job of city attorney.

The two applicants who were interviewed were Paul Bennett Seusy and James D. Carter Jr.

The third applicant, William S. Galvano, who is the state representative from District 68, was unable to attend the council meeting to interview. The council agreed to try and schedule an interview with Galvano prior to the council’s May 20 meeting, before deciding on an offer to one of the candidates. Galvano was also absent from the April 15 informal meeting between the council and candidates.

Prior to the interview, each applicant was given a copy of the 10 questions to be presented to each candidate. The questions were then read aloud by City Recorder Shelly Baumann and the applicant replied.

First to go before the council was Paul Bennett Seusy, an attorney with an Arcadia law firm who resides in Lake Suzy.

Second to be interviewed was James D. Carter Jr. He has been engaged in private practice in Bradenton since 1996. Carter earned his law degree 1986 from Mercer University in Macon, Ga.

The questions ranged from relations among city, county and school board attorneys, to salary requests and why the applicant would want to be the city attorney.

Present City Attorney David Holloman announced his retirement earlier this year, but agreed to stay on temporarily until his replacement was hired.

The other odd thing about this story is the headline: there was never any intention that this meeting be other than a public Q&A. Did the kid on the copydesk assume the story was about the failure to choose an attorney? If so, he sould have read it.