Plagiarism as a common practice?

The recently retired vice president for news at Knight Ridder, one of the nation’s largest newspaper owners, says plagiarism is a problem at every American newspaper.

Jerry Ceppos, a journalist for 36 years, also says:

• A failure to accomplish the primary purpose of news — “to tell us how our government is being operated and to let us have some impact on changing it” — may be poor news judgment, but it shouldn’t be considered an ethical lapse.
• The public mistrust of news media arises in part because reporters and non-reporters define responsible reporting very differently.
• American journalism schools give ethics instruction short shrift.

If that doesn’t wet your critical whistle … Read the GradeTheNews interview for more.

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