USA Today's Pentagon Reporter Resigns Under Pressure (Squitieri Accused of Plagiarism)

Washington Post ^ | 5/5/2005 | Howard Kurtz

[wjersey]

A USA Today Pentagon correspondent, Tom Squitieri, resigned under pressure today after the paper learned he had lifted quotes from another newspaper for a front-page story and used several other quotes, without attribution, that were cut during the editing process.

In a March 28 piece on the Army falling behind in ordering armored Humvees for Iraq, Squitieri quoted Brian Hart of Bedford, Mass., whose son was killed in the war. The same quote appeared, word for word, in the Indianapolis Star in May 2004:

"My son called me the week before he was killed. He said they were getting shot at all the time. They were in unarmored Humvees and were out there exposed to the fire. He was concerned they were going to get hit. He was literally whispering this into the phone to me. He was right. That's how he died."

Squitieri also used a three-sentence quote from Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) -- about the Pentagon having "consistently underestimated" the need for more armored Humvees -- that had appeared in the same piece in the Star, which like USA Today is a Gannett paper.

"This is a clear violation of our sources and attribution policy, and when that happens, a reporter has to leave the paper," Editor Ken Paulson said. "When you see a pattern of misuse of quotes, you have to take steps."

But Squitieri's lawyer, Joseph Cammarata, said his client spoke to all the sources or their spokesmen, even though he ended up using the old quotes. "Tom spoke to each of these people directly, verified what the sound bite was in the past and sought their permission to use it," Cammarata said. "There was nothing inaccurate about it. . . . The suggestion that there was a pattern of misuse of quotes is not true."

[Mo1]

Later read

[FormerACLUmember]

USA Today: The delightful rag that ran stories during the Terri Schiavo judicial murder about haw starvation and dehydration allegedly caused euphoria and ecstasy in the victim.

[wjersey]

[Bahbah]

How much of this is just plain laziness. So few seem to want to do the hard work anymore. Or maybe they are just happy with things that support the outcome that they want.

[winner3000]

I thought that was the LA Times that did that. It doesn't matter. USA Today is very liberal too.

[USS Alaska]

Another one bites the dust. hahahahahahahaha

[expatpat]

I always thought that he was reasonably close to unbiased when I saw him on TV, but I don't read USA Today (or any other newspaper).

[cripplecreek]

Are these people mentally deficient? They know that every competing newspaper and blogger in the country is waiting to catch them yet they do it anyway.

[Barset]

Now he can join Barnicle and Doris Kearns Goodwin as a regular on the Imus show.

[Bahbah]

Now he can join Barnicle and Doris Kearns Goodwin as a regular on the Imus show.

LOL. It is beginning to look like a last refuge, including one for aging, irrelevant politicians...McCain, Biden, et al.

[Recovering_Democrat]

May Squit can get a job workin' for Plugs.

[Chode]

and another fat bloated tick falls off the dog...

[penowa]

I LUV to see the Lefties get caught for something as mundane as plagiarism, especially when they are LOCAL lefties who think they've made it to the big time when all they've done is SUCK UP to Demonrat butt!

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Could you ping this for me, buddy?

[albee]

BUH-BYE, Tom!

Don't let the door hit your butt on your way out!

Oh.......and by the way......GOOD RIDANCE!!!

[Leo Carpathian]

eeeeek

too much hair, no brains, biased RAT

[Darksheare]

Willdo.
Sorry to be so late on the bounce on this one.
Got myself conned into being a taxi yesterday.
:(

Pinging all three lists in one shot.

Ping listers, seems reporter at the pentagon is in a bit of an 'oops'...

[SAMWolf]

Do not fear the enemy, for your enemy can only take your life.
It is far better that you fear the media, for they will steal your HONOR.
That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse.

Mark Twain

[Darksheare]

Interesting.

Mark Twain could easily have said that today.