Unethical Works, Unethical People
Uploaded by Admin on Apr 28, 2000
In the world of media today, an ethics code is one of the most important things to follow. Unfortunately, Mike Barnicle and Patricia Smith did not feel the same way. Mike Barnicle and Patricia Smith, both former workers for The Boston Globe, plagiarized and falsified information in order to bring forth newsworthy stories. Throughout this paper I will discuss the unethical acts of both Barnicle and Smith, the problems they caused for themselves, and the problems they caused for The Boston Globe.
"The following is what happens when a company lacks consistent response to, and enforcement of, its core values and standards"(Hoffman 1). The summer of 1998 became one of the worst summers The Boston Globe has ever seen. For thirty years The Boston Globe had built itself a great reputation and had won twelve Pulitzer prizes. "The Globe even outshone its cross-town rival, the Boston Herald" (Hoffman 1). In 1973 the Globe hired a writer by the name of Mike Barnicle. Mike wrote about the Boston’s working class. Including cops, single mothers, gas station owners, elderly immigrants and young veterans. Problems with Barnicle started to surface early in his Boston Globe career. The Globe settled two lawsuits stating that Barnicle plagiarized quotes of famous people. Also, a man by the name of Mike Royoko complained that Barnicle was copying his work. Many workers at the Globe then came to resent him and complained that he was arrogant.
Just when it seemed that Mike Barnicle’s problems were beginning to subside, on August 1, 1998, Barnicle wrote a column titled, "I was just thinking…..". A reader called the Globe and alerted the Boston Herald that many of the excerpts in Barnicles column actually came from George Carlins book, Brain Droppings. The column Barnicle had written was not his own work..
This was the worst case scenario for the Boston Globe because their competitor released the story first and at the same time revealing the earlier problems the Globe had had with Mike Barnicle. "The thirty eight, one-liners in the column included eight items similar to George Carlin’s book, without citing Carlin as the source"(Jurkowitz 1). Here is an excerpt from the actual article that Barnicle wrote compared to the writings of George Carlin.
The book: "If cockpit voice recorders are so indestructible, why don’t they just build an airplane that’s just one big cockpit voice recorder?"(Carlin;Jurkowitz 3).
The column: "How come planes...