Connecticut daily sued for plagiarism by competitor

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on November 20, 2009 at 5:11 PM

The Hartford Courant, Connecticut's largest daily, is being sued for plagiarism by local competitor The Journal Inquirer of Manchester, reports the Associated Press. The suit was filed this week in Connecticut Superior Court in Hartford. It accuses the Courant of lifting 11 articles, both in full and in pieces, from the Inquirer during August and September.

The Courant, which is America's longest continually published newspaper, began using the other paper's stories last summer when it launched a new "aggregation policy" on its website. Stories of local interest from the Inquirer, such as those about town politics and local events, were summarized or rewritten (many containing full sections verbatim) and placed on the paper's website with attribution but without permission.

The Inquirer alleges that the Courant then began to run the stories in its print version with the by-line of a Courant reporter or without giving credit to the original source.

The Courant is owned by Tribune Co., the parent company of Chicago Tribune and The Los Angeles Times which filled bankruptcy last December. Tribune's newspapers commonly use aggregated stories on their websites. According to the AP, Tribune stands by its papers using aggregated material as long as it does not carry over to print versions.

The CEO and publisher of the Courant, Richard Graziano issued an apology in September on the paper's opinion page which acknowledged the plagiarism and pledged to prevent any further occurrences.

However, the Inquirer is not satisfied with just an apology. Managing editor of the Inquirer, Chris Powell, is quoted by the AP as saying, "their intent in taking our work was malicious and they did wrong, and they need their knuckles rapped over it... They acknowledged it, but just saying, 'Oh, sorry,' is pretty cheap."

The Inquirer is seeking $15 000 in damages as well as court and attorney fees.

Source: Associated Press