That sound you hear is the clock ticking off the seconds before the National Press Club is forced to admit they made a massive mistake. Raw Story has the goods:
A Massachusetts newspaper reporter and her then-editor have accused former White House correspondent 'Jeff Gannon' of plagiarizing an article at which the reporter was the only media witness, RAW STORY has learned.
The alleged plagiarism was discovered by blogger Ron Brynaert, who has tracked other plagiarism by Gannon and various Talon News correspondents at his blog, WhyAreWeBackInIraq.
An Jun. 17, 2003 article published by Jim Guckert, who wrote under the pen name Jeff Gannon, contains numerous identical quotes and turns of phrase to an written by Melissa Beecher for the Waltham Daily News Tribune five days earlier. A comparison of the two articles compiled by Brynaert follows....
Guckert did not respond to two email requests for comment....
"...[W]hen direct quotes are used without attribution it’s not acceptable. Good reporters don’t do that. It’s upsetting to see that a nationally-recognized personality would." [said Melissa Beecher of the Waltham Daily News Tribune, the reporter alleging that GannonGuckert plagiarized her work.]
....[Beecher's then-editor, Richard] Lodge was startled to hear that Guckert would be a panelist at the National Press Club next week.
“He’s not a journalist," Lodge remarked. "And he misrepresented to anyone reading that website that this was his work, and it was not his work, plain and simple.”
....Beecher was similarly aghast that Gannon would be considered for a panel at the Press Club.
“When I attend those conferences and I’ve been to many, you always think the person behind the desk that you’re learning from has qualifications that put them there," Beecher added. "It’s just disturbing that a person who is accused of doing what he did is now teaching the next generation of young reporters. Or fostering a dialogue between professionals in this business.”
“That’s just upsetting to real journalists that someone who does a copy and paste job has that title, or can be in the same circle that a lot of us pay our dues to be in,” she added. “I know reporters who paid their dues for years and years to even be considered as a White House correspondent, never mind making up your own news company and walking in.”
