AP walks back reporting on Harvard plagiarism scandal after backlash

[KARAH RUCKER]

IN JOURNALISM, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS IS SEEN AS THE GOLD STANDARD. JOURNALISTS USE THE AP’S STYLE GUIDE BOOK TO DETERMINE PROPER TERMINOLOGY AND USAGE AND MEDIA CONGLOMERATES PARTNER WITH THE AP TO SHARE THEIR WORK. 

BUT THE AP IS HAVING TO WALK BACK A RECENT HEADLINE AND REPORT AND ADMIT THEY GOT IT WRONG – THAT THEIR STORY – “DIDN’T MEET THEIR OWN STANDARDS.”

HERE’S THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF THEIR NEWS ARTICLE COVERING HARVARD’S PRESIDENT STEPPING DOWN.

“HARVARD PRESIDENT’S RESIGNATION HIGHLIGHTS NEW CONSERVATIVE WEAPON AGAINST COLLEGES: PLAGIARISM.”

THAT HEADLINE – ALONG WITH SOME OF THE SENTENCES WITHIN THE ARTICLE’S BODY HAVE SINCE BEEN EDITED AFTER THE AP RECEIVED BACKLASH OVER CALLING “PLAGIARISM” A “NEW CONSERVATIVE WEAPON.”

THEIR NEW HEADLINE – REMOVES THE WORD WEAPON BUT KEEPS THE PREMISE THAT A “CONSERVATIVE ATTACK” HELPED TO FAN “OUTRAGE” OVER THE PRESIDENT’S PLAGIARISM.

SOME BACKGROUND TO THE STORY.

THE CONTROVERSY IS OVER HARVARD’S NOW FORMER PRESIDENT CLAUDINE GAY RESIGNING FOLLOWING ACCUSATIONS OF PLAGIARISM COMING TO LIGHT.

A CONSERVATIVE NEWS OUTLET “THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON” WAS FIRST TO REPORT DOZENS OF  “LONG STRETCHES” IN HER PUBLISHED WORKS THAT DUPLICATED OTHER WORKS.

A HARVARD COMMITTEE CONFIRMED THE PLAGIARISM ACCUSATIONS.

AND PRIOR TO THIS SCANDAL, GAY’S TESTIMONY OVER ANTI-SEMITISM ON CAMPUS ALSO LED TO CALLS FOR HER RESIGNATION.

THE WAY THE AP CHARACTERIZED THE PRESIDENT’S RESIGNATION AND CAPITALIZED ON A CONSERVATIVE EFFORT TO HAVE HER REMOVED DIDN’T SIT RIGHT WITH USERS ON TWITTER.

A “COMMUNITY NOTE” LABEL WAS SLAPPED ON AP’S ARTICLE, SOMETHING THAT ALLOWS USERS TO OFFER CONTEXT TO A POST.

READERS ADDED THIS CONTEXT.

“PLAGIARISM IS A BREACH OF RULES FOR HARVARD UNIVERSITY. THERE WERE A “SERIES OF BREACHES.” AND PLAGIARISM “CANNOT BE CONSIDERED A “WEAPON.”

A WASHINGTON POST COLUMNIST SAID 

“THEY BURIED THE LEDE. THE GOP STOLE THIS WEAPON FROM COLLEGES, WHICH FOR YEARS PUNISHED PEOPLE FOR PLAGIARISM WITH LITTLE TO NO INPUT FROM CONSERVATIVES.”

CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR SCOTT JENNINGS SAID “IT’S REMARKABLE THAT CONSERVATIVES WITH ALL THE POUNCING AND SEIZING THEY DO, HAD THE TIME TO INVENT THE CONCEPT OF PLAGIARISM OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF MONTHS.”

IT WASN’T JUST AP’S HEADLINE THAT WAS LARGELY CRITICIZED. THERE WERE PORTIONS OF THEIR ARTICLE THAT WERE ALSO LATER CHANGED IN AN ATTEMPT TO REMOVE BIAS.

WHEN HIGHLIGHTING A CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST’S TWEET THAT READ “SCALPED” REFERRING TO GAY’S REMOVAL –

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SAYS THE USER WAS ACTING “AS IF GAY WAS A TROPHY OF VIOLENCE, INVOKING A GRUESOME PRACTICE TAKEN UP BY WHITE COLONISTS WHO SOUGHT TO ERADICATE NATIVE AMERICANS.

THE AP LATER ADDING CONTEXT IT WASN’T ONLY USED BY WHITE COLONISTS.

IN RECENT YEARS, STANFORD UNIVERSITY AND THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA HAD A CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP DUE TO PLAGIARISM ALLEGATIONS.

BUT THIS ONE IS DIFFERENT, ACCORDING TO THE AP’S WRITE UP. CLAUDINE GAY WAS HARVARD’S FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT.

IN THEIR ARTICLE, THEY CITE WALTER KIMBROUGH – A FORMER PRESIDENT AT A HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE, WHO SAYS “AS A BLACK PERSON IN ACADEMIA, “YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO BE TWICE, THREE TIMES AS GOOD.”

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STILL SETS THE STANDARD FOR JOURNALISTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY EVEN THOUGH ACCORDING TO ALL SIDES – WHICH PROVIDES MEDIA BIAS RATINGS FOR OVER 1,400 MEDIA OUTLETS – THE AP DOES HAVE A LEFT-LEANING BIAS. ALL-SIDES HAS RATED US AS A CENTER NEWS OUTLET, WHICH IS IN LINE WITH OUR MISSION TO PROVIDE UNBIASED, STRAIGHT FACTS.