Sports reporter fired for plagiarism
ASSOCIATED PRESS
STAUNTON, Va. — A sports reporter at a Virginia newspaper has been fired for fabricating stories, the paper’s executive editor said in a column published Friday.
An investigation by The News Leader’s editors turned up “significant evidence” that Blair J. Parker made up at least four stories and plagiarized from others on the Internet, Dave Fritz wrote in his column. The fabrications breach the paper’s ethics policies.
When contacted by The Associated Press, Fritz said he could not comment beyond what he wrote in the column.
The newspaper, owned by Gannett Co., has a circulation of about 21,000.
Parker, who had worked for The News Leader since September 2006, was fired on Tuesday.
In his column, Fritz said the investigation of Parker’s work began after it was determined that part of a story about deer hunting and trout fishing during the drought came from an Illinois newspaper’s website. Other portions of the article came from other Internet sites.
“Only one source was clearly real and correctly identified, and he disputes the quote attributed to him,” Fritz wrote.
When asked about the story, Parker took full responsibility for her actions, Fritz said, adding that she later acknowledged the other fabrications.
A telephone message left by the AP at the home of the only Blair Parker listed in Staunton was not immediately returned.
“Our goal from the first sign of wrongdoing was to quickly and transparently understand the scope of the problem and to take firm action,” Fritz said. “It’s our responsibility to our readers.”
[ 2007-10-26 ]
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