Back in July of 2008 NewsMedia Group, the former owner of the Connecticut post, announced that the executive editor of Utah's largest newspaper would be coming to Bridgeport.
Back then Robert H. Laska, who was the Connecticut Post's president and publisher, was proudly announcing that he was appointing Thomas Baden of The Salt Lake Tribune to the newspapers editor'sjob.
Mr. Laska told Bridgeport leaders that Tom Baden's extensive journalism background would bring high standards in reporting at the Connecticut Post.
Mr. Baden replaced the 61-year-old James Smith of Oxford, who had only lasted three years as editor of the Connecticut Post.
The 56-year-old Mr.Baden graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Maryland. He worked as a reporter and city editor at the Post-Standard in Syracuse, and was managing editor of the Patriot News in Harrisburg, Pa before heading out to Utah.
Then the revitalized Connecticut Post revived the 2008 Newspaper of the Year Award from the New England Newspaper Association.
But soon after Tom Baden took over as editor of the Connecticut Post News Media Group went bankrupt and Hearst Newspapers moved in and took control.
Hearst Newspaper executive John J. DeAugustine replaced Robert H. Laska as publisher of the Connecticut Post and Steven Swatz's became the President Of Hearst Newspapers.
This left Bridgeport leaders wondering what would happen to NewsMedia Groups promise of bringing high journalistic standards to the Connecticut Post.
Well, Connecticut Post's news editor Tom Baden told Bridgeport residents not to worry as he pointed to an old 2002 Hearst Newspaper Statement about Journalistic Ethics.
Back in July of 2008 NewsMedia Group, the former owner of the Connecticut post, announced that the executive editor of Utah's largest newspaper would be coming to Bridgeport.
Back then Robert H. Laska, who was the Connecticut Post's president and publisher, was proudly announcing that he was appointing Thomas Baden of The Salt Lake Tribune to the newspapers editor'sjob.
Mr. Laska told Bridgeport leaders that Tom Baden's extensive journalism background would bring high standards in reporting at the Connecticut Post.
Mr. Baden replaced the 61-year-old James Smith of Oxford, who had only lasted three years as editor of the Connecticut Post.
The 56-year-old Mr.Baden graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Maryland. He worked as a reporter and city editor at the Post-Standard in Syracuse, and was managing editor of the Patriot News in Harrisburg, Pa before heading out to Utah.
Then the revitalized Connecticut Post revived the 2008 Newspaper of the Year Award from the New England Newspaper Association.
But soon after Tom Baden took over as editor of the Connecticut Post News Media Group went bankrupt and Hearst Newspapers moved in and took control.
Hearst Newspaper executive John J. DeAugustine replaced Robert H. Laska as publisher of the Connecticut Post and Steven Swatz's became the President Of Hearst Newspapers.
This left Bridgeport leaders wondering what would happen to NewsMedia Groups promise of bringing high journalistic standards to the Connecticut Post.
Well, Connecticut Post's news editor Tom Baden told Bridgeport residents not to worry as he pointed to an old 2002 Hearst Newspaper Statement about Journalistic Ethics.
Hearst Newspapers: Statement of Professional Principles
It is our singular mission to be the most trusted, most respected and most accurate source of news and information in the Hearst Newspapers communities that we serve.
We place our readers' interests above all others, and dedicate ourselves to the principles of truthfulness, fairness and independence. We understand that the free flow of accurate information is vital to our system of government and the foundations of our economy.
It is not to introduce new standards but in fact to reinforce the principles on which this company and these newspapers were founded that we set forth the following Statement of Professional Principles. While the primary form in which we serve our readers is through the pages of our editorial product, it is no less incumbent upon all of our employees, in every department, to hold themselves to the highest standard of ethical and legal principles both in the conduct of our business and in our participation in the communities in which we live and work.
The trust that our communities place in us is our most valuable asset. All of us are guardians of this trust, and to do so faithfully requires the avoiding even the perception of conflict of interest, and encouraging colleagues to act in a similar manner.
Newsgathering
The deliberate introduction of false information into our newspapers will not be tolerated. Legitimate mistakes do occur, and when they do, we have the responsibility to correct those errors in a timely and complete fashion. While the editor, the managing editor and the reader representative have the final responsibility for corrections, reporters should not hesitate to bring errors in their own work to the attention of their supervisor.
Reporters, editors and other news professionals should in no way misrepresent their identity in order to gather information for a story. Likewise, fictional identities shall not be used in the newspapers and photographs shall not be materially altered unless clearly labeled as such.
In our news columns as well as in our reporting, we will treat people with dignity and respect. Recognizing that there are multiple points of view in most stories, we will make every effort to include all sides relevant to a story. We must make a particular effort to seek comment from those portrayed in a critical manner.
Information used in our newspapers that was gathered by another organization should be attributed or labeled as such. Plagiarism is never acceptable.
Conflict of Interest
All employees should make a special effort to avoid both actual conflicts and the appearance of them. Thus, with the exception of nominal courtesies and traditional practices such as business meals, we should accept no gifts, trips or other things of significant value from those we cover.
We shouldn't use our position or affiliation to seek special personal benefit.
While we encourage all of our employees to be good public as well as private citizens, employees should avoid any active involvement in partisan politics. Employees should also avoid active involvement in community issues or organizations to the extent that their participation might cause the paper's objectivity to come into question.
Family members can't be held to these standards. However, any family business or political or community affiliation that might reasonably cause an employee's objectivity to be questioned should be brought to the attention of a supervisor.......
Ex-Chairman Of The Fairfield Town Democratic Committee Caught Plagiarizing At Connecticut Post
Society of Professional Journalists:Code of Ethics Are Not Being Adhered At His Bridgeport Newspaper.
The content in question came from a from a Jim Himes fundraising email that was written by Mark Henson, just hours after his political email for Connecticut's fourth congressional district congressman it appeared word for word in a CT Post Blog written by Jonathan Kantrowiz..
It appears that Jonathan Kantorwiz thought is was a clever little scoop, even though the words and thoughts were not his own.
A Jim Himes' Campaign volunteer, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that campaign manager Mark Henson was flattered that Jonathan Kantrowiz trusted the accuracy of his thoughts and words so implicitly by cutting and pasting the entire body of the fundraising email (without linking to us or stating that those words came from any outside source).
The volunteer also stated there were a lot of high fives among Jim Himes' campaign staffers, because Ct Post Political Writer Jonathan Kantrowitz admired the email subject line headline enough to make it a Ct Blog Post Headline.
Although some joked that they were amazed that Jonathan Kantrowiz had not managed to misspell Dan Debicella's name.
But when Connecticut Post writers copied-and-pasted from the body of others work there is only a small chance that their will be misspelled words.
Yet the Himes volunteer said that while most of the campaign were flattered by the Hearst Newspaper's plagiarism, one of Himes's staffers was furious.
You see, that campaign staffer spent three collective hours chatting on the phone getting the background information for the fundraising Jim Himes fundraising email.
This Jim Himes campaign staffer flesh out all of this personally and then put the put pen to paper.
This Jim Himes campaign staffer was the the one who researched online for several more hours.
This Jim Himes campaign staffer was also the one who brainstormed that headline that Connecticut Post political writer Jonathan Kantrowiz liked so much.
This Jim Himes campaign staffer say it took me some time before just the right wording was put toghether.
Later finally, Jim Himes' campaign manager Mark Henson is the one who then edited and fine-tuned the fundraising email before it was sent to Connecticut Post Political Writer Jonathan Kantrowitz and others..
But Jonathan Kantrowiz didn’t credit Jim Himes' campaign staffer, and he didn’t credit campgain manager Henson.
And when Jonathan Kantrowitz's fraud was discovered, Connecticut Post Editor Tom Baden rushed to cover Hearst Newspaper's compositional counterfeiting by slapping a statement that said Jim Himes' campaign was the true author of Jonathan Kantrowitz's post..
Still, the damage was done. Most of the Connecticut posts readers had already visited that particular blog, and the window of opportunity for Jonathan Kantrowitz to tell the readers that the source of his writings was a one-side campaign email had came and went.
Connecticut Post readers have been shocker to learn that Jim Himes' campaign staffers are being used to act as Hearst newspaper's golden retrievers;
Why should the Connecticut Post's political writer's scurry to fetch information, when they just can pilfer from political campaign literature.
Connecticut Post political writer Jonathan Kantrowitz can just slap down thoughts from one side campaign emails just as if was his own.
Just as if Jonathan Kantrowiz had invested his precious time into doing all that footwork.
The internet exposes a wide variety of writers to literary theft: novelists, poets, screenwriters, song writers, academics, comedians, etc.
Many are trying to make a name for themselves.
At times, these acts of piracy are obvious, like in the Jim Himes / Hearst newspaper scandal
Editor Tom Baden sees sections of Hearst newspaper articles reprinted in personal blogs without quotes, for instance, or even worse the reprinting of whole passages the Connecticut Post news site without proper attribution.
But the Connecticut Post can't pretend that Jonathan Kantrowitz didn't know he was plagiarizing when he pass off Jim Himes' criticism as his own.
It is wrong for Hearst Newspapers to write a blog post using a congressman's fundraising email, but never referring or linking to its originator.
Connecticut Post political writer Jonathan Kantrowitz can argue that he and Hearst were just cutting corners.
But ethically, this was wrong and Hearst editor Tom Baden should put an end to it.
And if that isn’t persuasive enough, consider the legal implications.
Theoretically, a writer can sue a plagiarist for damages.
Practically, of course, it’s highly unlikely that congressman Jim Himes will ever sue over a stolen fundraising email, one only receives damages if one can prove measurable, economic harm. And how do you estimate the economic value of spam?
As we saw with Napster, the law may lag behind new technology like blogs,
But, it eventually catches up.
If the damage from the Connecticut Post's act of online plagiarism could be accurately assessed, lawsuits suddenly become a viable option.
Finally, Heast Newspaper President Steven Swartz And CT Post Editor are gambling with thier reputation every they allow writers to dabble in cerebral thievery.
No one trusts an impostor like Jonathan Kantrowiz, and all it takes is one act of deceit to undermine decades of brand-building at the Connecticut Post.
So beware.
Thanks to the Internet, it may be easy for a wanna be journalist like Jonathan Kantrowiz to find and copy content.
But also thanks to search engines, the true creator can—and will—find out what the Connecticut Post has done. A
And bloggers and other news organizations have no qualms about linking back to the plagiarism at the Connecticut Post.
After all, it is only fair to give credit where it’s due.
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