An internal audit undertaken by NBC News found instances of plagiarism in over a dozen web items written by just a single writer, the media outlet revealed on Monday.
According to a note to readers, NBC News claimed it uncovered 11 items "written by a reporter over the last year that did not meet our standards for original material."
"The articles contained passages from other news organizations that were used without attribution," the note reads. "In all cases, the passages were not central to the stories, but instead contained supplemental or background material that did not represent original reporting."
The publication did not identify the reporter responsible for the incidents of plagiarism, explain how it learned of the copied content, or clarify whether any action had been taken against the employee who wrote the stories in question.
"An editor’s note has been placed on each of the articles, and the passages that were plagiarized have been removed," concluded the note. "Maintaining the trust of our readers and viewers is essential to NBC News, and our work must always meet the highest standards of our profession."
In journalism, cases of plagiarism are not uncommon. As a rule, publications try it avoid washing their dirty linen in public and tend to quietly correct mistakes retroactively while punishing or even dismissing the responsible employee.
The reason for such tough approach against instances of plagiarism is, of course, that the credibility of the news organization is left ultimately being called into question. Thus, if journalists produce plagiarized articles, it reflects poorly on the entire news company.
A quick look at the latest reports from the American media shows that nevertheless, from time to time cases of violations of ethics by a journalist and subsequent sanctions from management still make their way into the public sphere, as is the this case with NBC News.
Thus, according to a Buzzfeed News memo, in the summer of 2020, senior reporter Ryan Broderick was fired for plagiarism when it was revealed that 11 of his articles had illegal borrowings and incorrectly attributed sources.