David Pratt begins the segment by apologizing for his column in this morning's Province. Two lines which appeared in that column are not his own words. He immediately brings on Paul Chapman, and announces his relationship with the paper is over. No hard feelings, but apparently even a sniff of plagerism (Pratt himself, used the word twice during the segment in referring to his actions) will result in prompt termination.
Is this really the policy in print journalism?
All I can say is Thank God the same doesn't apply to radio. We'd all be serving 30 to life.
For the record Jim Jamieson, The Province Published: Wednesday, June 04, 2008 The Province is ending the column written by TEAM 1040 AM sports talk-show host David Pratt after he admitted to plagiarizing some portions of a Sports Illustrated piece written by well-known writer Rick Reilly.
A reader alerted The Province to the plagiarism via e-mail after Pratt's weekly column, called "Pratt's Rant," appeared in Tuesday's editions of the newspaper.
The column, celebrating the winding down of the long career of Hockey Night In Canada play by play man Bob Cole, contained some clear similarities to the Reilly piece about legendary U.S. college basketball coach and broadcaster Al McGuire published in the Sept. 18, 2000, edition of Sports Illustrated.
The most striking was a passage in Reilly's piece: "They say he was born 72 years ago last Thursday, but don't believe it. McGuire dropped straight out of Guys and Dolls with a martini in one hand and a basketball in the other."
Pratt wrote in Tuesday's column in The Province: "Cole was born 75 years ago, but it's more likely he dropped straight out of Guys and Dolls with a martini in one hand and a puck in the other."
"Plagiarism is an affront to the ethical standards of this newspaper," said Province Editor in Chief Wayne Moriarty. "Our readers have to know that the writing in The Province is either original or attributed to the original source. I personally liked David's work, but as a result of this information we can no longer publish his column."
In an interview, Pratt admitted he had taken material from the Reilly column.
"I did it, no question," said Pratt. "It was a mistake. In our [radio] business, lines get used back and forth all the time. That particular line is a pretty famous line and I should have credited Reilly with it and I didn't. It was a stupid mistake and something I regret and I'll make damn sure I'll never do it again.
"I'm looking for stuff from everywhere," added Pratt. "We recycle everything. The sheer amount of volume we produce forces you to constantly be looking for different people's ideas."
Interesting. A similar situation with Angele Yanor back in 2004 comes to mind. The above article does shed some light on the Province's overly strict (IMHO) plagiarism policies.
Plagiarism is never a simple mistake - It's always a deliberate act. Pratt stole entire paragraphs from Reilly's column. Of all the sportswriters to steal from, he picked the most-read columnist in North American. That was a "simple" act.
Any newspaper in the world would have turfed him for doing that. It kills his credibility.
Interesting that both Dan Russell and Jim Mullin did editorials on the subject. Both had the knives out, but makes you wonder if competing personalities on a rival station should be bothered with it. There was definately some venom in Russell's rant.
The "mistake" and subsequent firing also made no impact on the regular appearance of Province Editor Paul Chapman on the P&T show.
You reap the seed you sew. Sorry Pratt- You should have listened to your Grade 9 English teacher. Plagerism is never acceptable -- it is the instrument of weak and uneducated parasites.
Pratt has to own this, but the Province also gets what it deserves for giving someone like Pratt a column - and I say that as a fan of his radio work. His columns were bad, and he hadn't learned the craft.
Russell Piles On By William Houston Globe & Mail June 6
It's been a bad week for David Pratt, co-host of the afternoon drive-time show on Vancouver's Team 1040 all-sports radio station.
He was fired as a weekly columnist for the Vancouver Province newspaper after he was caught lifting a line from an eight-year-old Sports Illustrated column by Rick Reilly.
In a piece about Hockey Night play-by-play announcer Bob Cole, Pratt wrote: "Cole was born 75 years ago, but it's more likely he dropped straight out of Guys and Dolls with a martini in one hand and a puck in the other."
Reilly, on basketball coach and broadcaster Al McGuire, wrote: "They say he was born 72 years ago ... but don't believe it. McGuire dropped straight out of Guys and Dolls with a martini in one hand and a basketball in the other."
Pratt acknowledged the breach, apologized, and was quoted as saying that in radio, "we recycle everything. The sheer amount of volume we produce forces you to constantly be looking for different people's ideas."
That remark angered Dan Russell, host of a sports talk show on rival CKNW.
He described Pratt's stating the appropriation of ideas is common in broadcasting as "a weak attempt to excuse himself by throwing other radio people under the bus."
He added: "Evidently, this is something he's made a career of, looking for different people's ideas. Today, it finally came back and it bit him in his leather pants."
Russell said there was little sympathy for Pratt in the Vancouver media. "I suppose if Pratt had even once checked his ego in at the door, maybe some people would cut him some slack."
In an interview yesterday, Pratt was contrite and reiterated he wasn't clear on the rules pertaining to plagiarism in print journalism. Pratt, a 35-year radio veteran, had been writing the column for four years.
As for Russell's comments, he said: "It doesn't surprise me that Russell would do that. That's kind of what he does. What can I say? I apologized until I'm blue in the face. There's clearly a higher standard in print and I'm not a print guy."
So, thanks to Pratt's indiscretion, he got mentioned on the NW Major Sports at noon, and again on Sportstalk. He had a "dismissal" column in the Province, followed by an apology piece. Now, a William Houston column in the Globe...
Imagine that. A sports reporter admitting that his craft is so cliche ridden that he thought it was fair game to lift a quip from a well-known magazine columnist, and then pleading ignorance about a "higher standard" in print journalism. Apparently he wanted to get out of the office before noon. What a joke.
So, thanks to Pratt's indiscretion, he got mentioned on the NW Major Sports at noon, and again on Sportstalk. He had a "dismissal" column in the Province, followed by an apology piece. Now, a William Houston column in the Globe...
ALL DURING THE LAST DAYS OF RATINGS.
I'd say, he's earning his paycheque...AGAIN.
A real stretch to think this is some sort of ratings stunt primarily because Pratt looks like a real tool on this one.
I'm not a fan of Pratt at all as I think his arrogance is too much to take and hope this puts it back in check, however, give me a break. Sports guys use cliche's all the time. Do they ever have to use the original author of them? If they tell a joke, does it have to be original or do they say they got it off the internet? Unless it's been trademarked, there's really nothing wrong with it. With that being said, I believe that any sports guy that can be original and creative will go further than lazy guys like Pratt (althugh he's done pretty well for himself).
You've got to be kidding me. It's Plagiarism not a simple mistake. One of his expalnations was that it was a Saturday morning and he wanted to get out of their by noon. He knew what he was doing was wrong and just got caught. It makes you wonder how many other simple mistakes he has made so he can get out by noon.
I'm not a fan of Pratt at all as I think his arrogance is too much to take and hope this puts it back in check, however, give me a break. Sports guys use cliche's all the time. Do they ever have to use the original author of them? If they tell a joke, does it have to be original or do they say they got it off the internet? Unless it's been trademarked, there's really nothing wrong with it. With that being said, I believe that any sports guy that can be original and creative will go further than lazy guys like Pratt (althugh he's done pretty well for himself).
This wasn't your typical sports cliche it was a line stolen from one of the most popular writers written in North America written word for word and passed off as your own. That is inexcuseable.
Dan Russell is deeply disturbed about some issue in his life...
Could he be upset there's a whole other radio station playing in HIS sandbox .. and the Corus attempt at the format .. (which also carried Russell, by the way) .. failed miserably?
You'd think a guy with his substantial creds would be above the pettiness.
It's hard to believe that Dan Russell was the first morning co-host of the team (with Bill Courage).
You wonder what might have happened had the TEAM put Russell in the afternoon slot. Same as his show now, only in drive. I know for a fact that CORUS dreaded that thought.
The other possiblity would have been to pull Russell away from 'NW, take the evening, and have him fill in when Shorthouse was on TV.
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to begin with, but that little stunt blows whatever credibility Pratt might have had out the window.
