The Badger Herald, a UW-Madison student newspaper, fired an editor Nov. 30 who plagiarized at least 10 articles over the course of the fall 2006 semester.
UW-Madison junior Dan Powell had been the paper's state editor since August.
He plagiarized articles from The Associated Press, Wisconsin State Journal and Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, according to Taylor Hughes, Badger Herald editor in chief.
""He was dismissed immediately on Thursday morning within something like 12 hours of us finding his first article,"" Hughes said. ""He is not associated with us at all anymore, and that's that.""
One of Powell's editors discovered the plagiarism late on Nov. 29 when she was looking for further information on one of his stories, and then came across the original article, according to Hughes.
He added that though the exact number of plagiarized articles is still under investigation, Powell authored approximately 100 articles over the course of the semester. Additionally, he said the plagiarism appears to have gotten worse over time.
Hughes said the Herald had planned to finish its internal investigation before making a statement, but would do so in today's edition because of press coverage in numerous publications.
Tim Kelley, managing editor of the Wisconsin State Journal, said technology has facilitated plagiarism on a national scale.
""It's not an excuse, but technology makes plagiarism so easy these days. You just cut and paste,"" Kelley said, adding that he agreed with the Herald's dismissal of Powell and felt sorry for the senior editors.
""It really goes to the heart of a newspaper's credibility, if the plagiarism really is that extensive. You really have no choice but to fire or dismiss the person responsible for it,"" he said. ""When you have a deception like that, you really have to take action.""
Robert Drechsel, a UW-Madison journalism professor, said plagiarism accusations have far-reaching effects in the journalism field.
""It undermines the absolute most important commodity that journalism has, and that's its trustworthiness or its credibility—nothing could be more serious,"" he said. ""It's the kind of thing that does damage that's extraordinarily hard to undo.""
Hughes said that though the Herald plans to make a more explicit guidebook for new writers concerning the consequences of plagiarism, Powell knew the rules.
""It's not like he didn't know what was going on,"" Hughes said. ""When we contacted him about it, he knew what he had done wrong.""
However, he also said the paper would not pursue further action against Powell.
""He should not be punished for the rest of his life or career if there's no need to punish him for that,"" Hughes said. ""At this point, he still has time to turn his career around and come back from the mistakes he made.""
Journalistic plagiarism grabbed headlines in 2003 when New York Times reporter Jayson Blair was found to have plagiarized and fabricated information for more than 35 articles.
In October 2006, editors at The Harvard Crimson, Harvard University's student newspaper, suspended a sophomore editorial cartoonist for two drawings which bore a striking resemblance to pieces on a website which collects cartoons worldwide, according to The Boston Globe.
Powell did not return a call seeking comment as of press time.
