Reporting plagiarism in a local RW rag...

[Dob Bole]

I have found 2 instances of plagiarism in a local right-wing newspaper...one by the editor herself. My question is, who do I report this to? (I expect better of my tiny students.) Any ideas for strategy?

Thanks,

DB

[AlCzervik]

1. to the other newspaper in your town.

[eleny]

2. And perhaps to Media Matters.com

[Tansy_Gold]

3. First make sure it's really plagiarism

.

[Dob Bole]

5. Oh, it's really plagiarism:

She copied straight out of a history textbook (she homeschools her kids) and passed it off as her own article. She frequently attacks teachers and principals in our hometown, even though the paper is based in another town. The paper is an outlet for angry, hateful people, and I'm tired of it.

[zbdent]

4. crooks and liars?

Editor & Publisher?

[Dob Bole]

6. Update: I've been contacted by the PUBLISHER!!!

They are putting me through to their legal department!

It turns out that I found about 6 instances of plagiarism in the newspaper this year. Usually they were careful, copying from government websites or email forwards. But in one instance the editor copied directly from a history textbook! I've contacted the publisher, and a legal representative will be emailing me soon to get the evidence that I've gathered.

The paper has a circulation of over 10,000 readers, which means that in 5 separate instances the RW paper may have sold over 50,000 copies of stolen material. Only 10,000 of those involved the textbook publisher, but they would be most likely to prosecute. The others copied were government websites, unknown email forwarders, and right-wing campaign materials, none of which would be likely to prosecute.

I'm not revealing the name of the paper at the moment, but I just wanted to let DU know that I'm fighting back, and there could be good news ahead...or bad news for presstitutes!

[Dob Bole]

7. kick...GenD forum busy today!

[blonndee]

8. Good for you for catching this. By the way,

should you suspect this to be the case in the future but can't find it, PM me. I have access to a database (at least through December) that allows me to upload an almost-unlimited amount of text. The database will then search online as well as within other materials that have been uploaded and then generates an originality report, providing links to the potential source of the text, if in fact it appears not to be original.

[Dob Bole]

9. Well, I contacted the press association that the paper is a member of...

and after communicating with a rep all morning, they've decided to not take action. They're "just a trade association" and won't deal with complaints about an individual newspaper.