Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Outsourced company used hundreds of fake bylines


Outsourcing company Journatic used fake bylines on hundreds of stories it supplied to the Houston Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle, Poynter.org reports. Some of the stories were outright plagiarism.

The Tribune has suspended Journatic as its collector of local news. The Chronicle is investigating to decide what to do about the phony bylines and suspect stories.

This is a byproduct of freefalling newspaper revenue that led to drastic staff cuts and a use of outsourcing (translation: cheap, non-union labor) to unreliable sources.

Click on the next line to read the Poynter.org story.

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