The Testy EthicistÂ®

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Mon Jun 09, 2003 7:31 am

A reporter at the Sedalia (Mo.) Democrat got nailed for plagiarism.Oliver Wiest, editor of the newspaper, wrote in Sunday's edition:I made that decision after thoroughly investigating Mr. Kinney's work, after giving him every opportunity to explain his lapses, and after consulting with an expert in ethics at The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., one of the most highly regarded educational and training organizations for journalists in the country. ***I'm growing weary at Poynter's self-promotion as the place to go for ethics advice. Tell you what: Testycopyeditors.org will consult with any newspaper on ethics. I'll review any case and provide a quick answer, without making a major production out of it. Spread the word: Send ethics "problems" to
testyethicist@testycopyeditors.org . Don't tell us how old the suspect is, whether he's white or black or Asian or whatever, and don't tell us where he went to school.[ June 16, 2003: Message edited by: blanp ]

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Thu Jun 12, 2003 2:03 pm

The Poynter ethics SWAT team issued its report on the Salt Lake Tribune, the newspaper reported. Recommendations included:Revise, as necessary, the paper's ethics policy.
Include the staff in developing the ethics policy.
Train staff members in ethical decision making.
Regularly explain to reporters--and readers--the "why" and "how" of ethical decisions. ***Uh-huh.***

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Sat Jun 21, 2003 2:16 pm

Until I found this board, I thought I was the only one sick to death of windy proclamations of newspaper "ethics." Thank you.

vtuss · **Posted:** Thu Jun 26, 2003 12:51 am

If you want to get sicker, here's a play-by-play of the ethics consultation from the folks at Poynter:http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=53&aid=37577

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Mon Jun 30, 2003 7:34 pm

Thanks, Vince. I am considerably sicker...
From the Poynter turd: By e-mail, Wiest described his reaction: “My first impulse when I read the memo from the copy editor was to cry, but being a big strong man I did not. My initial impulse was to accept Mike’s explanation that he had cribbed material from Ebert's column when he was up against deadline. However, I already had evidence that he had lifted material in the three movie reviews published before the one that prompted the reader complaint. I still wanted to believe him after I asked him to explain the other instances of plagiarism. I trusted Mike and believed he was honest and truthful. "I did not want to believe that he was actively attempting to deceive me about the extent of his plagiarism.”******We thank you for being "a big strong man," Mr. Wiest.

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