How the media are defining plagiarism amid Kamala Harris allegations

[Karah Rucker]

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS IS BEING ACCUSED OF PLAGIARISM IN A BOOK SHE CO-AUTHORED IN 2009.

IT’S A STORY MAKING HEADLINES JUST THREE WEEKS OUT FROM THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

“KAMALA HARRIS’S PLAGIARISM PROBLEM” – THE HEADLINE OF

CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST “CHRISTOPHER RUFO”’S STORY – 

FIRST REPORTING THE ACCUSATIONS.

RIGHT-LEANING NEWS OUTLETS LIKE FOX NEWS AND THE NEW YORK POST –

AND LEFT-LEANING NEWS OUTLETS LIKE CNN AND THE NEW YORK TIMES –

ALL REPORTING ON THE ACCUSATIONS.

BUT HOW SERIOUS THE PLAGIARISM ALLEGATIONS ARE –

DIFFERS DEPENDING ON WHICH ARTICLE YOU READ.

COMPARING SUB-HEADLINES FROM FOX NEWS AND THE NEW YORK TIMES –

FOX HIGHLIGHTS “27 INSTANCES OF PLAGIARISM” FEATURED IN HARRIS’ BOOK.

WHILE THE NEW YORK TIMES SUB-HEADLINE HIGHLIGHTS “A PLAGIARISM EXPERT” SAYING “THE LAPSES WERE NOT SERIOUS.”

HERE’S WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE ALLEGED PLAGIARISM.

RUFO’S REPORTING STEMS FROM AN ANALYSIS BY AN AUSTRIAN PROFESSOR –

STEFAN WEBER – A SELF-PROCLAIMED “PLAGIARISM HUNTER.”

WEBER SAYS THERE ARE 24 INSTANCES OF PLAGIARIZED WORK FROM OTHER AUTHORS AND 3 CASES OF SELF-PLAGIARISM.

RUFO – PUBLISHED SOME OF WEBER’S FINDINGS ON X.

RUFO SHOWS A SECTION OF THE BOOK’S TEXT ON THE LEFT.

COMPARING THAT TO A REPORT FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ON THE RIGHT –

HIGHLIGHTING SIMILAR LANGUAGE.

IN ANOTHER EXAMPLE –

TEXT FROM THE BOOK IS ON THE LEFT –

COMPARED TO SECTIONS FROM A “JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE” PRESS RELEASE ON THE RIGHT.

RUFO COMPARES TEXT FROM THE BOOK TO TEXT FOUND ON WIKIPEDIA PRIOR TO THE BOOK’S PUBLICATION IN 2008 –

AND TEXT FROM THE BOOK TO TEXT FROM THE “BUREAU OF JUSTICE ASSISTANCE AND “THE URBAN INSTITUTE.”

HARRIS’ CAMPAIGN HAS DISMISSED THESE ALLEGATIONS.

SAYING “Rightwing operatives are getting desperate as they see the bipartisan coalition of support Vice President Harris is building to win this election, as Trump retreats to a conservative echo chamber refusing to face questions about his lies.”

“This is a book that’s been out for 15 years, and the Vice President clearly cited sources and statistics in footnotes and endnotes throughout.”

THE EXTENT OF THOSE CITATIONS AND HOW PLAGIARISM IS DEFINED –

DIFFERS AMONG NEWS REPORTS.

THE NEW YORK POST SAYS –

“In at least two of the instances, the source of the original verbiage is cited in footnotes — however, quotation marks are not around the apparently copied words and in other instances passages appear to be wholly uncredited, such as the Urban Institute report.”

FOX NEWS WROTE 

“Fox News Digital independently verified that Harris’ book features verbatim and near-verbatim reproductions.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES SAYS 

“In a review of the book, The New York Times found that none of the passages in question took the ideas or thoughts of another writer, which is considered the most serious form of plagiarism. Instead, the sentences copy descriptions of programs or statistical information that appear elsewhere. The five passages that Mr. Rufo cited appeared to have been taken partly from other published work without quotation marks.”

CNN SAYS –

THEY reviewed several of the passages highlighted by Rufo and found that Harris and O’C. Hamilton (THE CO-AUTHOR) failed to properly attribute language to sources. Plagiarized works include using someone else’s work without giving them proper and appropriate credit for their ideas and words. Even if the source of the information is cited, it is still considered plagiarism if the ideas are not paraphrased or quoted in the correct place, experts told CNN late last year.”

THESE NEWS OUTLETS OFFER CONTRASTING INTERPRETATIONS OF HARRIS’ PLAGIARISM ALLEGATIONS –

BUT IT’S HOW **VOTERS INTERPRET THE STORY THAT HAS YET TO BE SEEN.

THANKS FOR WATCHING OUR NEWS UPDATE.

FOR MORE STORIES COMPARING MEDIA COVERAGE FROM NEWS OUTLETS WITH A LEFT AND RIGHT POLITICAL BIAS –

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FOR STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS – I’M KARAH RUCKER.