Sunlight Foundation
A press release for Sunlight Foundation's new plagiarism-detection tool Churnalism claims a bust right out of the gate: Reuters' prematurely published obituary for George Soros "includes a number of references from his Wikipedia page," it says.

The tool compares text -- which you can either paste in or let Churnalism vacuum in from the URL -- against Wikipedia and a database of press releases, from "PR Newswire, PR News Web, EurekaAlert!, congressional leadership offices, the White House, a sampling of Fortune 500 companies, prominent philanthropic foundations and many more," the release says.

But could Soros' Wiki page have sucked in phrases from Reuters' obituary, as the release notes happened with a New York Times article? Edits made since the obituary was mistakenly published don't seem to indicate the wording moved in that direction (though I'm hardly an expert when it comes to forensic examinations of Wiki edits). I've contacted Reuters for comment; obviously the Soros piece was not intended to be published as is.

The Washington Post
Jane Goodall's upcoming book "Seeds of Hope" contains "at least a dozen passages borrowed without attribution, or footnotes, from a variety of Web sites," Steven Levingston reports in The Washington Post. Some come from "organic tea websites," Levingston writes, including Choice Organic Teas, which sells tea that benefits the Jane Goodall Institute.

"I am distressed to discover that some of the excellent and valuable sources were not properly cited, and I want to express my sincere apologies," Goodall tells the Post in an email. Her publisher says "We have not formulated a detailed plan beyond crediting the sources in subsequent releases."

The book, which Goodall wrote with Gail Hudson, attributes one quote to a botanist named Matt Daws: “'If seeds can survive that long in such poor conditions, then that’s good news for the ones that are stored under ideal conditions in the Millennium Seed Bank,’ Matt Daws said to me.”

Virtually the same quote from Daws appears on the Gardens Web site in a 2009 article with the headline “Plant story — 200 year old seeds spring to life”: “If seed can survive that long in poor conditions, then that’s good news for those in the Millennium Seed Bank stored under ideal conditions.” Asked in an e-mail whether he ever had a conversation with Goodall, Daws replied: “To be perfectly honest I have no recollection of speaking to her.”

Jeremy Duns | New York | CJR
"Nate Thayer is a plagiarist," says Jeremy Duns.

If you've been following media news this week, you know that Thayer ignited a debate by publicly berating The Atlantic for asking him to condense and republish an article for free on its website.

But that burning fire also cast some light and attention on what, exactly, it was that Thayer had written. Duns says it's a good thing the Atlantic didn't get the piece:

"The Atlantic dodged a bullet: Thayer's article, '25 Years of Slam Dunk Diplomacy', is massively and unambiguously plagiarized from the article 'The Oddest Fan' by Mark Zeigler, published by the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2006." (more...)

The Awl | Poynter
The poet Kenneth Goldsmith talked with Mark Allen last week about his studies in "uncreative writing": His forthcoming book "Seven American Deaths and Disasters" transcribes radio and TV reports of tragedies; for another book he retyped the entire Sept. 1, 2000, edition of The New York Times. People still nursing wounds about Common, take note: Goldstein's performed his appropriated works at the White House.

Goldsmith also teaches at the University of Pennsylvania, where he encourages students to plagiarize:

The students that take my class know how to write. I can hone their skills further but instead I choose to challenge them to think in new and different ways. Many of them know how to plagiarize but they always do it on the sly, hoping not to get caught. In my class, they must plagiarize or they will be penalized. They are not allowed to be original or creative. So it becomes a very different game, one in which they're forced to defend choices that they are making about what they're plagiarizing and why. And when you start to dig down, you'll find that those choices are as original and as unique as when they express themselves in more traditional types of writing, but they've never been trained to think about it in this way. (more...)

At a talk this afternoon in Miami, Jonah Lehrer acknowledged his plagiarism and fabrications and described how he hopes to redeem his reputation. Lehrer read prepared remarks then answered questions from Knight Foundation President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen and the gathering at the closing lunch for the 2013 "Media Learning Seminar." A liveblog of highlights appears beneath the video.

Lehrer was paid handsomely for the appearance. "Like most outside speakers at Knight events, he was paid an honorarium. In this case, it was $20,000," says Knight spokesperson Marika Lynch by email. Ibargüen told The Washington Post's Erik Wemple, "We would typically pay a speaker sometimes more than that."

Lehrer resigned from The New Yorker in July after it was revealed he had been recycling his own work for blog posts and had fabricated quotes in at least one of his books. Wired also severed ties with him after an independent investigation found 22 instances of recycling, plagiarism or fabrication.

Archived video of the session appears below, and Lehrer plans to post his remarks on his website in the next few days, he said.

(more...)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ralph Taylor resigned Monday from the DeKalb County, Ga., school district, Ty Tagami reports. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found Taylor had plagiarized "more than a third" of a 15-page report he'd produced for the district. Taylor was paid $10,000 for the report, which he completed as a consultant before joining what DeKalb's superintendent Cheryl Atinkson called a "dream team." After the AJC discovered the plagiarism, Atkinson said the district would investigate, Tagami writes.

Two days later, the school district issued a statement from Taylor. It said he’d made an “inexcusable mistake” in not attributing portions of his report and vowed to relinquish his fee. But, he said in the statement, “I am not a plagiarist, and plagiarism was not my intent.”

A DeKalb schools official couldn't confirm to Tagami whether Taylor had repaid his consulting fee. His job as an associate superintendent paid $117,000 per year. Earlier this month, Chris Spence resigned as director of education for the Toronto District School Board after he was revealed as a serial plagiarist. He plagiarized in a Toronto Star op-ed, and reporters soon found other incidences of plagiarism, including his doctoral thesis. Previously, in school plagiarism: Toronto school board director admits plagiarism in Toronto Star piece | Amid further reports of plagiarism, Toronto schools official resigns | Toronto Star purchases plagiarism-detection software.

The Wrap
The Washington Post has suspended William Booth, Alexander C. Kaufman reports. The Post apologized earlier this week, saying Booth lifted copy from an article by a University of Southern California professor in a story he wrote about the Panama Canal.

Booth is the paper's bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

Kaufman has a letter from Post Executive Editor Marty Baron to Andrea Hricko, the professor to whose work Booth helped himself. The plagiarism "represented a serious violation of our ethics standards," Baron writes.

We are also taking severe and appropriate action with regard to the reporter, William Booth. Violations of The Washington Post's standards bring serious consequences.

"I believe that the Washington Post acted with integrity and responsibility in this case," Hricko told Kaufman.