April 16, 2012

Standard-Examiner
Mark Saal wonders why, despite a long career of pilfering humor columnists’ work, Jon Flatland left his alone. He searches some of his favorite lines from his columns and comes up empty — and a little disappointed.

No real writer likes to see plagiarism happen, but don’t kid yourself. Ninety-five percent of all the humor columnists in the country were secretly hoping they’d had at least one piece among those plagiarized by Flatland. And the other 5 percent are liars.

The snub, he decides, is a wake-up call: “If I ever expect to be plagiarized, I’m going to have to start producing — right here, right now — some better source material.”

In related news, fellow serial plagiarist Steve Jeffrey’s future as president of a local chamber of commerce is in question, the Strathmore Standard of Alberta, reports.

Previously: Jon Flatland, columnist and former newspaper owner, exposed as serial plagiarist | How serial plagiarist Jon Flatland learned he’d been caught | Humor writer says he’s uncovered another serial plagiarist

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Andrew Beaujon reported on the media for Poynter from 2012 to 2015. He was previously arts editor at TBD.com and managing editor of Washington City…
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