See no evil?

A piece from "The Huntsville Item" from 20 Dec 2007 states:

The Huntsville Item will move into the new year continuing its efforts for quality local news with Dennis Garrison as publisher.

Garrison will assume his new role effective today.

In June 2009, about one and a half years later, Editor & Publisher noted that :

an article ran in The Huntsville (Texas) Item on June 25, that is almost identical, word for word, to an article earlier initiated by the Financial Planning Association. However, the Huntsville Item article carries the byline of Brian Smith as an Item correspondent. Publisher Dennis Garrison confirmed to E&P that Smith is a financial adviser for the local office of Global Financial Partners and writes a regular column for the paper, but does not receive a fee.

Now here is the punchline, from Editor & Publisher:

Garrison said he did not know about the earlier column and planned to speak with Smith. "I would need to talk to Brian and suggest to him not to do that in the future," Garrison said. "He pretty much writes it and sends it in. I really don't know where he picked it up."

IPBiz notes that student journalists who do things like this typically get fired, rather than getting suggestions.