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TechnographSouthern's Daily Egyptian learns grim lesson
By Joe Parrino
Posted: 8/30/05 Section: News
Recurring scandals are keeping Southern Illinois University's student newspaper under the microscope.
The ongoing, high profile investigation of a former editor in chief at the Carbondale campus paper comes after two confirmed incidents of plagiarism at the paper in 2004.
Investigative reports in the Chicago Tribune and a published apology by the Daily Egyptian on Friday brought national attention to the elaborate fabrication revolving around a 10-year-old girl waiting for her Army sergeant father to return from war. Neither dad nor daughter exist.
Jaimie Reynolds, a former SIU student who has already publicly admitted to deceiving the Daily Egyptian news staff, said she was merely an accomplice to the real mastermind, Michael Brenner of West Chicago. Brenner, a former sports editor and editor in chief, said he was duped by Reynold's charade just like everyone else, according to published reports.
The Daily Egyptian's faculty advisor Eric Fidler said the student news staff continues to probe the matter and to publish its findings.
"This is a grim lesson on why stories need to be checked," Fidler said, referring to the many hours his staff recently spent giving interviews to outside media and scrutinizing Brenner's body of work at the paper.
Rebuilding credibility with the paper's readers may also prove to be a difficult task. Just last year, the paper apologized for two plagiarism episodes. Both offending writers were immediately fired, Fidler said.
Former Daily Egyptian editor Andy Horonzy said neither of the plagiarists was a trained journalist, and one was not even employed at the newsroom full-time. The first plagiarist was a columnist for the paper's entertainment magazine who copied a few paragraphs from a Roger Ebert movie review in spring 2004. The second writer also contributed a partially spliced movie review in fall of the same year.
"Both knew it was wrong, but thought they could get away with it," Horonzy said.
The ongoing, high profile investigation of a former editor in chief at the Carbondale campus paper comes after two confirmed incidents of plagiarism at the paper in 2004.
Investigative reports in the Chicago Tribune and a published apology by the Daily Egyptian on Friday brought national attention to the elaborate fabrication revolving around a 10-year-old girl waiting for her Army sergeant father to return from war. Neither dad nor daughter exist.
Jaimie Reynolds, a former SIU student who has already publicly admitted to deceiving the Daily Egyptian news staff, said she was merely an accomplice to the real mastermind, Michael Brenner of West Chicago. Brenner, a former sports editor and editor in chief, said he was duped by Reynold's charade just like everyone else, according to published reports.
The Daily Egyptian's faculty advisor Eric Fidler said the student news staff continues to probe the matter and to publish its findings.
"This is a grim lesson on why stories need to be checked," Fidler said, referring to the many hours his staff recently spent giving interviews to outside media and scrutinizing Brenner's body of work at the paper.
Rebuilding credibility with the paper's readers may also prove to be a difficult task. Just last year, the paper apologized for two plagiarism episodes. Both offending writers were immediately fired, Fidler said.
Former Daily Egyptian editor Andy Horonzy said neither of the plagiarists was a trained journalist, and one was not even employed at the newsroom full-time. The first plagiarist was a columnist for the paper's entertainment magazine who copied a few paragraphs from a Roger Ebert movie review in spring 2004. The second writer also contributed a partially spliced movie review in fall of the same year.
"Both knew it was wrong, but thought they could get away with it," Horonzy said.
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