We received in the 5:00 p.m. ET hour an explanation from ESPN regarding the events resulting in five paragraphs of a recent PFT story by Michael David Smith being copied and pasted into an ESPN.com blog entry. (We would have posted something earlier but Mrs. PFT and I were late for dinner with the Rosenthals, who live here in New York City.)
"Within a blog post, we were looking to
include quotes from the Joey Porter interview on NFL Network," ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said via e-mail. "In doing so,
we accidentally [included] the extra surrounding language that
profootballtalk.com used to describe the NFL Network interview. We shouldn't
have and have since corrected it. It was clearly
unintentional."
Frankly (and at some risk of abandoning the proverbial high road entirely), we don't think ESPN gets to proclaim what is or isn't "clearly unintentional" in this case. It might have been unintentional, but that characterization is hardly clear.
Five paragraphs were copied verbatim. Only two of the five contained quotes from Porter.
Moreover, someone at ESPN.com changed MDS' placement of the words "Around the League" from italics to regular text, and added quotation marks. This act alone removes from the supposedly unintended conduct any clarity as to the absence of intent.
It's just as possible -- indeed, arguably even more possible -- that the person charged with posting the blog entry opted to simply cut corners in lieu of drafting a couple of paragraphs to introduce and/or explain Porter's words. Though the act of aggregating news does not entail high-end writing skills (and for that we are very thankful), it requires the person doing the writing to engage in some basic thought regarding the presentation of the story in a manner that is original, even if ununique.
So while we appreciate ESPN's decision to address the situation (as I told Krulewitz, to the extent an apology appears somewhere within those words, we accept it), we would have appreciated even more something that contained no evidence of spin.
ESPN calls copy-and-paste an "accident"
Posted by Mike Florio on November 6, 2009 10:59 PM ET
Speaking of not entailing high end writing skills, "ununique " ain't a real word, just an erroneous marriage of two common lingual terms to transmit the accurate & appropriate term for the condition of being "not unique". Next time use your best guesstimate in making terminological decisions of this nature.
Unintentional my butt. That's blatant plagiarism.
This kind of BS got someone fired at our local paper. ESPN should do the same.
Imagine that? ESPN being unethical? Wow, that is so hard to believe.
Pleeeeeese Florio, write a 95 Theses against the worldwide leader. They're weak right now, with all the sex scandals.
Even if you can't sue, you should use your soapbox to call them out (maybe do a joke on SNF about being worried about your analysis getting stolen).
FIVE whole paragraphs while looking for quotes??? Not hardly. It's blindingly clear while doing it that you are taking a whole more more than quotes.
If they would take their work as serious as fooling around with other employees, maybe such a thing doesnt happen. Oh wait, neither can be taken seriously. Seems like all the employees fool around with one another and their work is secondary. I hope whoever did this gets fired. If you do it at any other company, you're likely gone. You do it in college, you may get kicked out. No excuses here. Unintentional = BS.
I think it is kind of neat to read about "copy-and-paste" problems in a PFT article with numerous fonts because of "copy-and-paste" problems. (Insert Twilight Zone music here.)
Wouldn't be surprised if ESPN is testing the blog community with this. Stay strong, Florio, and make sure people hear your voice.
SaintsBucs -
"ununique" is a real word. It is a slang word. It may not be in your dictionary, but there is no rule that says a news organization is not allowed to use slang words. They are words according to definition of what the word "word" means. Therefore "ununique" is a REAL word and not a figment of somebody's imagination.
I bet you are still waiting for the full "ESPN Apology."
Good luck with that Florio.
They will hound the Raiders (not a Raiders fan) about the female abuse chargers, but will not admit to their own mistakes.
Please keep tooting your horn!!!!
It will only force these idiots to face ALL THE FACTS, and ADMIT THEIR OWN MISTAKES!!!!
There are some of us that have your back, FLORIO!!!
I am tired of trying to be BS'eds over every little news item of the NFL.
I, for one, am loosing interest in the NFL. Dog killing: ignored, wife beating: ignored, robbery: ignored, shootings: ignored.
I was a very passionate fan of the NFL, just as you, but I am losing my passion at very fast rate that I NEVER EXPECTED TO SEE!!!!!
Granted, my team is not doing very well this year,
mainly because of the economy,
but I'm thinking of selling my season tickets this year, not because of the economy, but because of where the NFL is heading. I'm 46, close to Florio's age, and I know what he talks about in some of the glory years. Some of you just don't get it.
There was actually a time when it was all about the sport, and not about entertainment and money.
THE MORE
IT MOVES TOWARDS ENTERTAINMENT, AND THE MORE IT MOVES AWAY FROM SPORTS, THE MORE I LOSE INTEREST!!!!
Keep up the go good work, Florio.
Keep the bastards honest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Um, please let everyone know when the PFT Gammer Hammar elections are up, so that "SaintsBucsPanthersSUKK" is not considered a candidate.
PFT world appreciates you cooperation.
Atlanta fans, go back to school, for the rest of the NFL fans, please?
Florio, if you let them get out of it that easy, I'll lose all respect for you.
And the no non-sense style that PFT planet has come accustomed to...
....and the Patriots "accidentially" video tape other teams defensive signals.
...we could go on and on, can't we cheaters (I mean patriot fans) about cheating, can't we?
Clearly ESPN needs guidance on how to properly plagiarize. You're supposed to copy verbatim from 'obscure' blogs. Not ones that crash servers and were acquired by NBC.
How out of touch is the guilty ESPN party to think they could just slide that by?
Usually, I'm against the ESPN bashing that takes place on this website by Florio and all the commentors, but I agree. This is clearly plagiarism and I would be surprised if whoever was responsible for this article is not fired or at least suspended for a while.
That so called apology is the biggest piece of BS I have ever read.
Ok they tried to explain what happened and kind of barely appolgized without actually doing it. But to say at the end that it was clearly unintentional whipes out the whole thing. Its like when your a kid and you take a toy from you brother and your mom makes you appolgize for it, and you say "Im sorry your upset that I took that toy, even tho it was mine in the first place and you weren't even playing with it anymore"
I mean come on it was plain as day. They didnt care that they stole your article and they didnt want to even acknowledge you about it. But because of the immediate bad reaction from media members, espn readers, your readers, and probly mostly because your a lawyer they decided that they were going to do the least action possible that they had to do to make everyone and maybe even a possible lawsuit go away.
And I dont think you did anything wrong with how you reacted to it. You can only take the high road for so long before you run out of oxygen. If anything I think you went to easy on them. But hopefully its not done with and someone finally shows them that they just cant do and say (or in some cases dont say) what ever they want.
Thank god they dont have the monopoly on tv sports coverage anymore. FOX, CBS, NBC, VERSUS,CSN, and NFLN is all I watch anymore when it comes to sports and it looks like its going to stay that way for a long time.
ESPN just "misinterpeted" the rules of journelism. No Plagerizing or cheating here folks.
It was only an "accident" that they got caught. They probably get away with this BS often.
Kudos on calling them on it and raising attention. Unfortunately it doesn't mean a damn thing to the general public and about 10 people will care. The good news is that Rich Eisen is one of the 10.
Somebody call the Whaaaaaaaaambulance
Florio, the only way you will ever get the honest, no spin apology you deserve is if you have a forum of ESPN's caliber to discuss the issue, like say, halftime of Notre Dame.
Which part is the apology?
This seams to be one of those scenarios where the offending party should just say....."I'm sorry. No, seriously, our bad." and then everything would probably be okay. But instead they chose to go with the classic "Honey, I cheated on you but only technically. See, what happened was I slipped and fell into her vagina. Believe it or not it's a common occurrence." Just f-cking apologize and move forward. The problem is ESPN is so paranoid that everyone is out to get them(maybe they are, I just saw about 6 guys in PFT hoodies with torches and spears headed to Bristol.) Instead of just lobbing the Ole General a telephone call that says "We're sorry. We fired the renegade knucklehead. Don't worry it wont happen again." they chose to go with "I would have gotten away with it if not for that dog and those meddling kids."
"Clearly unintentional" appears to be a euphemism for "dammit, we got busted."
@hugh good post,i hate to say i really long for the good old days,but god they were the good old days.
like you said,the side distractions of all the crimes being commited by the players and management just sucks the wind out of the game for me.
excerping a sentence or a word or two can be dismissed,but five paragraphs,c'mon.guilty as plaxico.
It does seem like an honest (but horrible) mistake. Mike Reiss tweeted it witht the link and someone working at espnboston thought it was Reiss' story in tweet. As soon as it was discovered, it was pulled.
BSPN is an accident. It's about time we start our own channel that actually concentrates on real sports and only the games that are played.
No more off the field crap, no more soccer, no more women's basketball, and all anchored by topless hotties. Let's make htis happen!!