Massachusetts Paper Fires Sportswriter for Plagiarism (Worcester T&G)

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http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000788877

Massachusetts Paper Fires Sportswriter for Plagiarism

By Joe Strupp

Published: February 03, 2005 updated Feb. 4, 11:00 AM ET

NEW YORK The Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette fired sportswriter Ken Powers late Thursday for plagiarizing elements of a Sports Illustrated Web story in his column published last Sunday. In a statement, the paper also announced that an investigation indicated he had apparently plagiarized material for previous columns and stories.

"Ken Powers' column on January 30 did not constitute his own work," the statement said. "He does not dispute that. Further investigation has revealed that this was not an isolated incident and that he has previously used the work of others without proper attribution. We have terminated his employment and our investigation into his past work continues." Editor Harry Whitin told The Boston Globe that at least a half-dozen Powers stories dating back to September had been found to have included elements from various Web sites.

Powers responded by claiming his firing was unjustified. "I am disappointed that a 20-year spotless record doesn't mean anything," he told Boston station WBZ-TV. "The termination is a terrible injustice to me."

Kathy Shaw, unit chair of the Worcester Unit of the Providence Newspaper Guild Local 31041, would not condemn or offer support for Powers, saying in a statement, "Plagiarism is a serious charge for any journalist and The Newspaper Guild takes it seriously. ... We see this as a sad end to a 20-year career." Powers, a 20-year Telegram & Gazette employee, had been the paper's Patriots beat writer for five years.

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Worcester Paper Isn't Done Examining Fired Sportswriter's Work

By Joe Strupp

Published: February 04, 2005 4:55 PM ET

NEW YORK The Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette's investigation into plagiarism by fired sportswriter Ken Powers will likely continue for several weeks, as editors go beyond his columns to review "several hundred stories" he wrote during the past football season, Editor Harry Whitin told E&P today. "I'm not sure where it's all going to take us," said Whitin, who also plans to expand staff training on the paper's seven-year-old anti-plagiarism policy. "We have been using Internet search engines and taking chunks of passages from columns, but I'm not convinced we have reached the end of that."

A day after firing Powers, a 20-year T&G veteran and the paper's Patriots beat writer, Whiten said editors have much more work ahead as they begin to look into the bulk of Powers' stories from the past season, while also offering closer scrutiny of columns that have already revealed at least six plagiarism offenses since September.
"He has written a lot more than that over the years, and we have not begun to tackle it all," he added. "Whether we go beyond this season is open to question."

In the meantime, a number of newsroom staffers are complaining that the paper did not properly inform readers as the investigation was unfolding this past week. The paper first learned of the allegations against Powers on Monday, following tips from two readers who said his Jan. 29 column included several elements of a previous Sports Illustrated column. The allegations were serious enough that editors summoned Powers back from Jacksonville, Fla., where he was covering pre-Super Bowl activities.

But the paper did not run anything about its investigation until Wednesday, when a short editor's note ran on the back of the A section. A second note appeared inside the sports section yesterday , and the lengthy story about Powers' firing, which occurred late Thursday, was placed on the front of today's sports section.

Both editor's notes ran on the main page of the paper's Web site each day, but the Friday story ran only on the main sports Web page.

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Joe Strupp ([e-mail]) is a senior writer at E&P.