Plagiarism strikes at home
2009 July 9
For those of you in class today, you know how I feel about this…but how do you feel? What conversations should this start? What does this mean for journalism? For journalism students? Let’s chat.
The breaking blog story: http://gawker.com/5309703/small-town-newspaper-intern-canned-for-plagiarizing-new-york-times
The Editor’s note: http://www.gazette.com/articles/gazette-58112-stories-four.html
I’m pissed, too! I worked so hard to get into UF because it is one of the best J-schools in the country! Now, what would have gotten my resume put on top of the pile (my hard earned effing degree) will just invoke a wary glance as it gets tossed in the “maybe” pile. This girl lied to keep herself in a position she clearly wasn’t qualified for– if you can’t stand the heat (ie: write your own shit), stay out of the newsroom. I busted my ass to get here and it sucks that for a while, my school will be seen as one that sends liars and copy-pasters into the world.
I feel a little ashamed. As a student of the College of Journalism, this reflects on me as a stuent. I’m only a freshman, but I think this will affect me negatively. I feel bad for other UF Journalism students looking for internships and jobs right now. This scandal has besmirched the UF name and diminished the credibility of the major at our school.
A part of me feels bad for her too. She’s young, and inexperienced. Hell, we all make mistakes. This was a whopper, but I hope someone out there will give her a second chance. If I was in that situation, I would be unimaginably grateful for a little mercy. she’ll never pass another background check, and I think that’s punishment enough, without throwing expulsion into the mix.
More articles about it:
http://collegemediamatters.com/2009/07/08/florida-journalism-student-fired-for-plagiarizing-stories-from-new-york-times/
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/07/07/ap6628451.html
I am not a journalism major, but I too am not very happy about this. I happen to be an advertising major, but this gives our college a bad name.
However, to say that our degrees will be worth less because of what ONE ignorant student did is highly unlikely. This one person does not say anything about the rest of us. She is the black sheep.
This college is one of the best in the nation. The New York Times is still one of the most read newspapers- despite Jayson Blair’s antics.
As a student in the College of Journalism I am not only very pissed off by also embarrassed that someone who represents us would do such a thing. That fact that she goes (probably will be ‘went’ in a few weeks) to a very well known university probably helped her greatly when she was trying to get her various internships. Then she pulls a stunt like this to repay us. Unfortunately what’s done is done and now all UF, the Gainesville Sun and the Colorado Springs Gazette can do is damage control in a situation like this.
I would be willing to bet that as the days progress the Gainesville Sun and the University of Florida will both discover that this wasn’t her first time cheating and plagiarizing. I guess time will tell.
I still can’t get over the fact that she copied from the New York Times. The whole thing is just ridiculous to me. She plagiarized and got what she deserved. However, I don’t think this will hurt journalism students at UF too much. It is still considered a great school, and Hailey’s cheating will soon be forgotten.
This whole thing is so ridiculous. You would think she’d be smart enough to think up of her own ideas. I was absolutely disgusted when i read the comment about her copying someone’s first-hand account about the death in their family. Like are you kidding me? sicko. She’s going to get what she deserves though. She’s not getting a job anywhere any time soon. I know you’re so pissed, but I have to tell you, today’s class has definitely been the funniest.
this is really ridiculous why would she do blatant dumbass thing like that i mean plagiarism is messed up any way you slice it but its the ny times man balls to that! I am not a journalism major but i am an advertising major and being in the same college and all i was proud that i was going to be apart of one of the best journalism schools in the country all i can say is balls…
I am a journalism major and have been working in journalism for 6 years now. I’ve seen the movies and books about fallen journalists who have created huge scandals in the journalism world and how they have tainted the world of journalism forever. I find it funny that one small little student thought that she could get away with plagiarism when people who have been in the business for years get caught. She’s still a student! Not only has her career been shot before it really got started, but she has been deemed as permanently retarded by the University of Florida. It’s like being blacklisted. I would really like to know if she got all those internships by articles that she borrowed or used borrowed phrases in. If not then I’m not sure I understand why she did it. If she was a good enough writer without the borrowed help of those much more experienced and clever with their words than herself, then why start stealing their stuff?
I think it really sucks that just because one little girl decided to take her chances at getting away with what more experienced journalists have not, we as UF journalism students are tainted by association. I don’t want to pay for her mistakes as much as anyone else, but thanks to her we have to. I hope that the rest of us who have been working to better journalism can change our now tainted reputations and prove to be better than some of our fellow classmates.
At first when i heard about this at the beginning of class, truthfully i was like,”uhhh, ok who cares? And what does this have to do with me?” But it has a lot to do with me and the otehr journalism student, we hope that in a year or less or maybe more it’ll just pass and seem as if it never happened, but something like this looks horrible for not only the school aa whole but especially on the college of journalism and communications which I am trying to attend. I am a journalism major and I wouldn’t want any of this to affect me because I never even knew this person and why should the rest of us have to suffer for her stupid decisions?!
Here is two more publication’s comments on the situation. Our very own teacher is mentioned in The Independent Florida Alligator article. Enjoy.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1133169.html
http://www.alligator.org/articles/2009/07/08/news/campus/090708_plagiarism.txt
Here’s a blog post talking about the scandal and her possible expulsion.
http://johnemcintyre.blogspot.com/
I sincerely hope that this will blow over soon — not for Hailey’s sake, but for the students of the University of Florida. It is a shame that she did this, and its reflection on our school is really a bummer. I worked so hard to get into the University of Florida and would never betray my school, students, and professors this way. How could anyone risk his/her entire career and reputation like this?
If this girl would have plagiarized even once from the New York Times, we all would think she was an idiot. How the hell did she think she was going to get away with plagiarizing four times??? The whole cheating aspect makes UF look bad, but the whole not thinking she was going to get caught just makes us look plain ignorant! It’s not only embarrassing, but it’s sad too. It’s kind of hard to decide what should be done with her as far as UF because she has already ruined her career as a journalist.
I, too, am astounded that someone would so blatantly plagiarize from other sources… on mulitple accounts… from The New York Times. Just like the other advertising students have said before me, the fact that we’re within the College of Journalism and Communications means that this story unfortunately affects our name and reputation as well.
I know the whole debate (on that blog post that April posted) is if Hailey should be kicked out of the journalism college – dependent upon whether or not she was doing the internship for UF credit. Even if it was not for credit (and, therefore, not officially affiliated with the university), she plagiarized. In my opinion, she shouldn’t graduate with a journalism degree at UF… that would mean the college supports her efforts. They won’t let it just slip like that in the “real world” (and that’s why she was fired).
This reminds me of something that happened while I was Editor-In-Chief of my high school’s newspaper. It shows us that one person can ruin it for everyone.
We had a sophomore girl on staff. She was an okay writer, and put in a fair amount of work. When it came time to go to the State convention (Florida Scholastic Press Association), she decided to come.
We had two days worth of competing, and after all the competition there is a dance. Keep in mind this girl did not compete in any competition. She was just along to “learn” about Journalism.
She got drunk the night of the dance and threw up in front of professional Journalists, teachers, students, etc…
Needless to say, because of her stupid actions all of our awards earned on that trip were stripped, and the name of our newspaper became tarnished.
People are so selfish and stupid. I can’t believe she could feel morally okay about plagiarizing someone’s work. Day one of any Journalism class you are usually reminded to never plagiarize. It is like the biggest rule in the book of Journalistic practices.
This situation is disappointing, because UF J-school students will never hear the end of Mac Arthur’s story. UF will set her as an example about the consequences of plagiarizing forever, and professors will be on-the-edge with every student’s copy. By the way, why did it take so long for the paper’s fact checkers to realize what she was doing? Less staff? I think this just proves that newspapers can only go so far in budget cuts, without sacrificing writing originality. But I digress.
UF should double check whether or not Mac Arthur’s “writing” fooled her professors in class, too. Yet, if UF happens to find more evidence against her, should UF release this news? I don’t think admitting that she was able to get away with plagiarism here would help the j-school in any way.
I feel this girl deserves everything she got. Being a college student, especially one from UF, and being in her second year should know better than to plagiarize, and she should know better than to plagiarize from The New York Times, for goodness sakes!! I feel this makes UF and the school of Journalism look awful. Good thing our society works in a way that its one big deal one day and blows over the next. The students who are smart enough to not plagiarize just have to step up. I also feel bad for her because now her career is ruined!
What an effin’ idiot. Seriously.
I also believe that Hailey did a very stupid thing by thinking she could get away with plagiarizing in a daily read newspaper. On the other hand, I do not think that it will cause everyone to think that now every journalism student at UF does the same thing and cause job problems. It was also just in the paper today that a UF student shot and killed someone, that does not mean that now everyone looks down on UF because we are murderers. I believe it is just a minor set back and it will be forgotten shortly.
I am most definitely outraged by this. I can’t believe that someone would have the audacity to plagiarize in the first place, and then from the New York friggin Times. I think a situation like this sucks for everyone… the copy-and-paster, students at UF, journalists, and of course, the professors. I can only imagine how pissed off they all must be right now. I’m curious to hear what the NYT has to say about this as well.
I think that anyone who plagiarizes is just plain lazy. The whole point of a journalism internship is to craft your writing skills and learn from newspaper veterans. It isn’t the time to just sit back and copy and paste your way through a great opportunity. At the time she may have thought she was advancing her career, gaining praise from the newspaper staff, but now she has no chance of ever writing again. She not only will get kicked out of the college of journalism but she will most likely (and should) be kicked out of UF. I’m sure it will be virtually impossible to ever get in to another college of journalism and her questionable writing integrity may keep her out of big name colleges in general. She not only affected herself but the entire journalism college at UF, including its students and of course professors. I’m really curious to see if she will come out with an apology and if the New York Times will comment on this story.
To be honest, I don’t take personal offense when someone plagiarizes someone else’s work. I think it is unfair, and if it were my work they copied, then I would be personally outraged, but to hear that someone copied someone else doesn’t really strike home for me. I think Hailey is an idiot, I can’t imagine why you would plagiarize the New York Times of all things, especially in a public paper, and for what? A pat on the head from her editor? Now she has ruined any chance she will ever have of being a professional journalist.
To be fair, I am not a journalism student. As such, it is not my place to judge morals in writing.
She got what she deserved. Period. It pisses me off that she took the place of someone who would have hustled for that internship, especially in this job market where getting an in with a newspaper is so tough. I wonder about the hiring process in media too, though. Hailey probably had a kick-ass resume, but poor standards of honesty and ethics. It’s almost a kick in the face to the other applicants.
I also read the bio on her blog/Web site/plaza.ufl.edu page. She seems like kind of a smarmy bitch.
I am just as astonished and dazed as everyone else in the class. The University of Florida is known for having students that have a honest work ethic and are motivated to achieve great things, none of us would be here if that weren’t true. And even though it is just one student out of 50,000, unfortunately it only takes one to put the whole university under a microscope. As many others in the class, I am not a journalism major but in the college of journalism and communications, and it is not only an embarrassment, but an insult. How anyone could be so ignorant, desperate and shallow to not only plagiarize from the New York Times, but to plagiarize a fathers firsthand experience of losing his daughter is disturbing on so many levels! There is something seriously wrong with you if you think you can get away with plagiarizing, four times, from the New York Times, but you need psychological help or something if you think it is morally ok to plagiarize someone’s emotions of losing a loved one. I would really love to have Hailey in a room and ask her what the hell she was thinking, and why all of a sudden this was ok, or how long she has been getting away with this unnoticed. UF is a great school and hopefully this will blow over without discrediting the amazing Journalism program here and puncturing the opportunities for others in the program.
Though I am not a journalism major, I declare myself outraged. Not only does this look bad for the College of Journalism, but for UF as a whole. With blog responses from outsiders like “what are they teaching you at UF?” I mean really? That is making the school look bad. She really should have thought about the seriousness of her actions before plagiarizing the New York Times. I mean really, really?
I don’t get how a person decides that they need to copy someone else’s work and then also thinks they can proceed to do so without getting caught. For it to happen once I guess could be called a lapse of judgement, but four times? Four times from a nationally recognized paper too. Really, Hailey? Sarah Faulkner, I agree with you 100% when wondering why she would even think ONE TIME to take words, even paragraphs from the New York Times. She obviously doesn’t think of the consequence before she commits the act and she deserves every punishment that is coming her way. Anyone who is willing to copy the first hand account of his daughter passing away and then turn it into their own words has got to have forgotten to use common sense. That to me was the worst part of this whole issue. The fact that she would plagiarize someone’s grief. Not good. Lord willing this will just be handled in a professional matter and won’t affect the future of students in the College of Journalism. We can only hope.
Pretty much all that one could say has been said. This is a case that strikes home for us here at the University of Florida. UF is looked at as one of the most prestigious public universities in the nation. With that said, critics are constantly looking for flaws to expose in their typically unfounded assaults on the character of our school. This girl made a horrific mistake that will directly and indirectly affect many people at UF. It is disappointing to see that this girl decided that her personal success takes precedence over journalistic integrity. Even more deplorable is her stealing of an article describing the death of a loved one. No human being should be capable of such horrible acts, but apparently the media has gotten really cut throat (or this girl is simply a greed SOB who doesnt set limits.) I hope this girl enjoys living in her mother’s basement for the rest of her life, either that or I heard that McDonald’s is looking for janitors
I am still in complete shock that one of our very own would do something like this. She basically insulted every student and professor in the College of Journalism. Not only were her actions completely and morally wrong, but the New York Times?! Really? What the…?!
Guys, she’s making worldwide news. One of the related links led me to an Australian version of defamer, and there you have it, Hailey is mentioned for plagiarism.
http://www.defamer.com.au/tags/hailey-mac-arthur/
Worldwide news? I feel bad for her.
Its kind of sad how talented people find ways to ruin their gifts. If I was writing for the Gainesville Sun and had a name for myself, there is no way in h-e-double hockey sticks i’d go and be so “smart” as to plagiarize from the NYT. That’s asking to get caught. I don’t feel sad for her at all; and how her career is probably ruined because she brought it upon herself. I hope she makes a public apology to the university because she has tarnished UF’s image and the type of students it produces, making it harder for every aspiring journalist from UF to get a job. Its just plain lazy and I’m honestly pretty pissed off. Hopefully society will realise it was just ONE girl who decide to make a fool out of herself, and won’t hold UF more accountable. But that’s just a hope.
You cannot steal from the New York Times and get away from it. If she had the audacity to plagiarize while on the job, there is no doubt this can be the first time she had stole from other sources. It is sad and pathetic that she felt so desperate to use, in some cases, whole paragraphs from the NYT. I almost feel bad for her because she has single-handedly ruined her journalism career…but at the same time I think she deserves to be harshly punished…you know like with expulsion. Although I think this will hurt the College of Journalism and Communications, I also believe that many people may not penalize future aspiring journalists with journalist integrity and heart because of her mistakes.
If she had the audacity to plagiarize while on the job, there is no doubt this cannot be the first time she stole from other sources***
…is definitely what I meant to type.
When I woke up yesterday, I found that one of my friends and fellow journalism students had forwarded me the Editor’s Note from the Colorado Springs Gazette. I COULD NOT believe what I was seeing! A lot of people are saying that journalism students should know better…and all that…but all people, in general, should know better than to plagiarize anything EVER, let alone from The New York Times. Did she really think that fellow journalists at the publication she was interning at were not going to pick up on her antics? Its THE NEW YORK TIMES! I couldn’t stop thinking about it the whole day. I must have read the passages back-and-fourth about 7 times. And I told almost everyone I came in contact about it, for one reason or another. When I got to work at the Alligator around 5 p.m., EVERYBODY was talking about it. And at this point I ALREADY thought it was a huge deal, but not until I heard that she is a UF student did I realize that this horrible situation was so close to our newsroom. Everyone was talking about how they had classes with her and how much j-school teachers loved and favored her in class. No where in the editor’s note did it mention that the intern was a UF student! I just assumed she was from somewhere in Colorado. But in fact, she is a student in the College of Journalism and Communications, she wrote for the Alligator and also interned at the Gainesville Sun. When I found out that we were running a story about her on the front page, for a slight moment, I felt bad. But then I shocked myself out of it and realized this girl, who is giving journalism students everywhere a bad name, deserves to be exposed for her idiocy.
People make mistakes, and I surely hope that she learns something from this experience because she will (hopefully) pay for it for the rest of her life. Not to get all deep, but this isn’t just about her journalistic ethics, this is about her character. And I, for one, hope that this follows her to any future career that she has because if she would do it to The Gazette, she would do it to anyone.
I actually took reporting with her. She was always very cocky and arrogant about her stories. I used to think she was a pretty good writer, now I know why. I have no idea what would drive a person to do what she did. I think it takes double the work to look for someone else’s stories and change them, than it is to write your own. She is just lazy, that’s all. And the fact that she bragged about it in her blog, when she knew what she was doing, is just plain stupid.
I for one am shocked that she believed without a shadow of a doubt that her plagiaristic work would go un-noticed…tisk, tisk, tisk. It’s unfortunate! I actually feel sorry for her. I can imagine her trying to meet deadlines and having writers block, and feeling so desperate to copy and paste another publication’s work. I can understand her temptation, believe me, I think we’ve all been there. But there’s nothing like putting someone else’s work in quotation marks and giving them credit–the weight of gulit is always removed when I site my sources name in parenthesis.
It’s stuff like this that makes me glad that a bunch books and newspapers are making their way onto the web so that we can find ignorant people like this girl. I think if it’s your job to write good articles with your own side to it, shouldn’t you actually use your own ideas? All plagiarism is just idiotic, even outside of journalism, I mean how hard is it to come up with your own ideas!?! I could just be biased because I’m not a writer and I haven’t been in a writing crunch situation, but I’m still surprised all the same that she stole from a newspaper that has been around for over a century.
I feel slighted and I’m not even in the college or journo. Students work really hard every day at UF to make contributions to our prestige and its people like this girl that can make all our hard work worth shit for a little while. Its beyond frustrating its like you just want to grab her and shake her and say thanx jackass we needed this. There are many questions I would ask but they would start with why? Then when did you start? Then how the hell did this slip through the fingers of the journo college and the gainesville sun. What does this mean for the college of journalism it means they probably have lost alot of integrity for at least the next 6 months or until something bigger happens thats the way these things work its just really upsetting that one stupid girl can tarnish so many hard working peoples resumes.
Honestly this girl was also using articles from 1987 and 1999, she has probably been doing this forever. The fact that journalism professors, at a supposed award winning journalism school, loved her and that she was chosen as a top 12 journalism student at the school to go on some special Brazilian thing, doesn’t say much for those professors. I bet if people start looking at her work a lot of it is plagiarized.
I found this on Science Blogs, so it is making the rounds for sure.