Times Faces Plagiarism... Again

A New York Times reporter recently resigned amid accusations of plagiarism, and on February 14, the Times issued an Editors' Note detailing the case.

Zachery Kouwe worked as a blogger and reporter for the New York Times since October 2008. The accusations of plagiarism were made by the Wall Street Journal regarding a post made by Kouwe on the DealBook blog at nytimes.com. The WSJ found "extensive similarities" between Kouwe's article and an article printed just hours earlier by the WSJ, and Wall Street Journal editor Robert Thomson sent a letter to New York Times editor Bill Keller describing "this case of apparent plagiarism." In an internal investigation, the Times uncovered additional cases of plagiarism by Kouwe.

The Times printed a correction both as an Editors' Note and alongside Kouwe's plagiarized article. The newspaper detailed its own policy on plagiarism, ending with the Times' dedication to protecting the integrity of journalism.

This was not the first incidence of a Times reporter taking liberties with journalism. In 2003, Jayson Blair, another reporter for the Times, was found guilty of plagiarizing. Additionally, the Times discovered that Blair was inventing quotes, facts and even sources to enhance his stories.

Unfortunately, these incidences reflect poorly on the Times. In only seven years this newspaper produced two writers whose ethics were questionable by all standards of journalism. This does not seem coincidental.

Is there something in the atmosphere at the Times that forces writers to feel the need to cheat? Or, does the atmosphere at the Times enable cheaters and make them feel like they can get away with cheating?

The Times has promised to do a review of all articles written by Kouwe, but maybe it needs to review its own policies, and it certainly needs to review its editing practices. A respected paper like the Times will no longer have any respect if things like this continue.

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Is a Journalism Degree Enough?

After finding a blog post written by Joe Sheller about what kind of education journalism majors should be seeking, I began to think about our own program here at Simpson College. Could the way students are learning about the journalism field really be as out of date as he says?

I don't believe Simpson is that far behind. Sure we still have a lot of catching up to do, but in the wake of the changing media industry I think the professors here are doing all they can to make sure their students receive the best education possible.

I dusted off my copy of the general catalog to look up what courses it takes to graduate with a degree in multimedia journalism or integrated marketing communication. It seems to me that many of the courses that students are required to take to obtain their degree also push them to think less as just writers and more as entrepreneurs.

Take our beginning news writing and reporting course for instance. I would have never dreamed I would be tweeting little pieces of news that I see happening around campus, let alone writing this blog. I'm also in a marketing course, and the one thing my professor keeps pounding into our heads is how we need to be tech savvy.

That doesn't just mean knowing how to use Facebook and Twitter. As Sheller tells us in his blog, more adults are learning all about these social media sites, and we as students need to be as ahead of the game as possible. Just taking a course in web design and web coding may put you miles ahead of your competitors in the job hunt.

So maybe the journalism field is changing, and maybe some colleges aren't doing enough to prepare their students, but the people at Simpson College seem to be making enough changes in the program to help enable students in the long run.

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