Awards to Ocala Magazine rescinded after plagiarism revealed

AFTER an anonymous source revealed plagiarism in articles written by Heather Lee of Ocala Magazine, THEN the North Central Florida Society of Professional Journalists Professional Chapter rescinded awards given for her work. The REAL STORY is why the North Central Florida Society of Professional Journalists Professional Chapter gave the awards in the first place.

[Ditto as to Florida Magazine Association: Association President Liesl O'Dell said Wednesday that other staff at Ocala Magazine "had no idea" that Heather Lee was plagiarizing during her five years on staff.]

An article by JACQUELYN WEINER noted:

In some cases, articles contained four cases of plagiarism, said Norman P. Lewis, an assistant professor of journalism at UF.

“It’s pretty unusual to have multiple sources for a plagiarism piece,” said Lewis, whose research specialty is plagiarism.

Of the 85 to 100 examples of plagiarism he has studied closely, Lee’s are some of the worst, Lewis said.

“It’s certainly one of the more serious cases I’ve ever encountered,” Lewis said..

IPBiz wonders if Lewis studied the Poshard matter at SIU or the plagiarizing English prof at the University of Florida.

In the Weiner story, there is no suggestion of "inadvertent" plagiarism. Quite the opposite. There is a quote by Ana–Klara Anderson, president of the North Central Florida Society of Professional Journalists:

“We really, as a chapter, had no other option than to rescind these awards because we found consistent and extensive use of plagiarism over the course of several years.”

Thus, one remains puzzled by recent commentary at a meeting of the American Chemical Society:


Confusion on the origin of most plagiarism?

What was George M. Bodner thinking?