One of my favorite comedians of all time is Steven Wright.

With his slow, deadpan delivery, Wright provides a unique view of our world that is idiotically brilliant.

Wright: "If you can't hear me, it's because I am in parentheses."

More Wright: "It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to have to paint it."

I'll give you this link to some of Wright's stuff knowing full well, that you won't be back afterward. If nothing else, you can't say I don't give you credit for good taste. Enjoy.

For those of you who have returned, thanks, and I had a great time spending Christmas with you. Give my best to Uncle Bob, please.

And since you are in the spirit, family, let me try out my own Wright-ism where it might be applied to the troubled state of journalism, and newspapers in particular. I know, I know, there goes the party, but bear with me. You didn't have to come back here you know.

Continue reading "Wrighting Newspapers' and CJR's Wrongs" »

Posted by Doug Clawson at 12:40 PM | Permalink

I'm going to start the week by tapping away on the echoing plagiarism drum.

This time, however, I will do so with a gentle rap or two with my pica pole at an otherwise timely story I came across in the Columbia Journalism Review over the weekend titled, "To Catch a Plagiarist."

The article's author, Craig Silverman, ponders why, with an ever-increasing number of plagiarism detection services on the market, more newspapers and other publications allegedly aren't using them to catch plagiarizers.

This story comes on the heels of recent high-profile plagiarism incidents at The New York Times and The Daily Beast.

While I found this piece thought-provoking, I was bothered by how closely Silverman, a self-proclaimed expert on the subject of plagiarism and the editor of the web site RegretTheError.com, came to swerving into the advertorial lane for one of these detection companies, iThenticate.

Continue reading "Bothersome Sourcing in CJR Plagiarizing Story" »

Posted by Doug Clawson at 12:27 PM | Permalink