Blog Assignment #6

Part I -- Identify the shamed journalists in the mugshots above, and describe why each was fired. Hint: they worked for (from left to right) The New Republic, The New York Times, USA Today and The Washington Post.

Part II -- The Mustang Daily even found itself embroiled in a plagiarism scandal last year. What were the details of the incident? (BONUS QUESTION: What ethical dilemma did local media (Mustang Daily, New Times and SLO Tribune) face when reporting this story)?

Part III -- Identify the 'character' of each organization or individual listed below. Some questions to answer: What do they do? Who pays them? What is their agenda, if any? Who’s interest are they serving?

1. Corpwatch
2. Globalwitness
3. Laborstart
4. Associated Press
5. Reuters
6. Electronic Authorization Partnership
7. David Romero
8. Jack T. O'Conell
9. Julie Rodewald
10. Deborah Linden


Part 1:
1. This is Stephen Glass, a journalist for The New Republic.. He committed several cases of journalism fraud. In 1998 he wrote an article called “Hack Heaven.” The article was very vivid, as if he was actually there. Forbes magazine presented evidence that the story had been fabricated. Soon somebody from The New Republic confirmed that the article was fabricated, along with 26 other stories he wrote. He was fired.

2. This is Jason Blair, a writer for the New York Times. He resigned from his job because he blatantly plagiarized an article written by Macarena Hernandez of the San Antonio Express-News. It was later discovered that 36 of 73 news stories he had written since October of 2003 were potentially plagiarized.

3. This is Jack Kelley, a former correspondent and Pulitzer Prize nominee for USA Today. Kelley, along with many other staff members for USA Today resigned in March of 2004, after it was discovered that Kelley had been fabricating stories. He went as far as to write scripts for people he knew, so they could pretend to be sources.

4. This is Janet Cooke, a staff writer for The Washington Post who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1980 for a fabricated story. The story, titled “Jimmy’s World” depicted the tragic tale of an eight year old heroin addict. When city officials were unsuccessful in finding the boy, people began to accuse the story of being fraudulent. Cooke confessed to fabricating the story after the editors from the Washington Post began pressuring her. Cooke resigned, and now lives in shame.


Part 2:

Rebecca Laman, a writer for the Mustang Daily, plagiarized three articles in 2005. Paragraphs taken from other web site articles were found in the stories: Men So-Forte, Fourth of July Do’s and Don’ts, and a review for “The Fantastic Four.” It seems like reporting the story may have been unethical because it tarnishes the credibility of Cal Poly’s newspaper and the Journalism department as a whole, and nobody wants to see their beloved college, which means so much to the community, take a blow to its great reputation.

Part 3:
1. CorpWatch: A research group in Oakland, California that tries to bring global justice, Independent media activism and democratic control over corporations. They are serving the interest of anybody who wants corporations to act in an ethical manner.

2. Global Witness: A Non-governmental Organization that links natural resource exploitation, conflict, poverty, corruption, and human rights abuses. They get 40% of their income from private trusts and foundations, 40% from grants from governments internationally, and 20% from development NGO’s.

3. Labourstart: An online news service that distributes news from over 400 correspondents, and appears in 20 languages. Labourstart is also on the radio at all times. They are serving the interest of people looking for employment in the Trade Union movement.

4. Associated Press: An American News agency owned by many news organizations, which write and distribute the news stories. It is the only Nationally oriented news service in America.

5. Reuters: A news service that provides international stories to newspapers and broadcasters. It gets most of its money from hooking the financial markets up with trading products.

6. Electronic Authorization Partnership: A financial software company that transfers money. It deals with electric filing of checks and conversions.

7. David Romero has popped up on google and other search engines as many different people. There is a painter named David Romero, a percussionist, and a congressman in jail among other things. This name has not popped up on different sites, but I was unable to find any relevant news for “David Romero.” I apologize for not knowing who this is.

8. Jack T. O’Connell: A California politician who serves as the California State Superintendent of Public Instruction. His main contribution to state legislation has been making the High School Exit Exam mandatory for graduation.

9. Julie Rodewald: The SLO county clerk recorder. Her job is to make sure the counties voters are well informed.

10. Deborah Linden: The CEO of Island One Resorts. She was appointed to the Board of Directors at Colonial BancGroup, which is located in Alabama.