Warsaw's Times Union: Media Thief

A funny thing happened in media-land in Warsaw yesterday. As best as the Media Maven can figure out, an article headlined "Warsaw Residents Charged with Attempted Murder" appeared on Stacey Page Online, (a free, online 'newspaper') and then, amazingly an identical story appeared word-for-word, comma-for-comma, period-for-period in The Times Union, Warsaw's old-line, established, print newspaper, later the same day. Even the headline matched word-for-word. 

Now, that's what the Maven would call an enormous coincidence.

Journalism has another word to describe it: 

                                           
Here's the original story, (image provided by a third party):

And here's the one the Times Union published as their own work, (image provided by a third party):

In the world of media, plagiarism is looked upon as a little more serious than copying your neighbor's homework and turning it in as you own. Well respected journalists have lost their jobs for stealing from a blog, another newspaper, or other published works. Pulitzer prize winners have found themselves tossed out into the street for cheating and stealing like this. Lawsuits have been litigated, out-of-court settlements have been negotiated. But, in a small town like Warsaw, chances are there will be a limp-wristed apology or 'correction' buried in the back pages of the paper, if the slight is even acknowledged by the paper. You know small towns, things tend to get covered up. 

It's one thing when on-line bloggers and writers steal from one another, happens all the time on the internet. But when an established newspaper, in business longer than most of us have been alive, steals content from anyone, it's a black eye for all journalists.