One of the more interesting experiments we have tried is the recruitment of columnists who are not professional journalists, but are experts in their fields. The goal is to provide unfiltered information and opinion from those actually making a living at the work. In going on five years, I estimate we have employed more than 60 such writers, on topics ranging from finance and retirement to manners and pet care. Some of these writers stick and become permanent fixtures (sales trainer Tom Richard and artist John Dorsey have been with us almost since the first issues) and some contribute once or twice and fade away.

Two of those writers, financial adviser Troy Neff and Sylvania fitness trainer Gregg Schwartz, belonged to professional organizations that supplied them with text to be used in newsletters or in newspaper columns. Both men had full legal rights to submit such content, but 1) Never credited the source material, and 2) Never informed me they were using such material. Some newspapers use these types of columns. Toledo Free Press does not. While this is not plagiarism in the sense of stealing and harming an original author, I believe such practices are unfair to readers who expect original material. When you see a name and face on a newspaper column, you expect the work to be that person’s, not someone else’s.

My expectations as an editor are that people we employ understand the standards we have set. This is not a pay-for-play publication, nor is it a publication that intentionally blurs the line between editorial content and advertising messages.

But my expectations for what the industry calls “citizen journalists” have been disappointed. That is in part because not everyone, especially those not trained in journalism, understands the rules and obligations of the field. It is also because when we started interacting with the community, I did not clearly articulate my standards and expectations to every one of our contributors, especially those from outside journalism. As regular readers in this space know, that has inarguably changed.

When we discovered in mid-December that Neff was using material without giving proper attribution, I immediately dropped his column and made a public statement. Neff was the host of a morning radio show, made weekly appearances on local television and was at the apex of his public notoriety. It was important for Toledo Free Press to make it clear that even such a well-known contributor, with a popular feature, would not be allowed to use our pages without following the strictest guidelines of attribution.

In mid-April, I received an anonymous phone call from a man who directed me to articles by the American Council on Exercise (ACE). Several ACE advice pieces had been published under Schwartz’s name in Toledo Free Press without appropriate attribution. Upon confirming he had used ACE material, I contacted Schwartz, who also contributed to the Sylvania Advantage, and told him he would immediately be dropped from our roster.

Schwartz’s last appearance in print was April 12.

As a small businessman trying to get a message about healthy lifestyles to the community (and reap some publicity at the same time), Schwartz, like Neff, was guilty only of not understanding the specific standards of an industry they were new to and learning about.

But in mid-April, it was my opinion that unlike Neff, who was a high-profile public figure, Schwartz was a relative unknown, a small-business owner with a brand-new startup enterprise. His contributions had slowed to less than one every six or seven weeks, and his content was not, like Neff’s, focused on current events and intricate financial advice. Schwartz “wrote” about stretching before exercising and how to manage a workout while traveling. I did not see the public interest in crucifying Schwartz for a mistake that clearly contained no malice or intent to hurt the publication or its readers.

In late May, longtime Toledo Free Press contributor Maggie Thurber was busted for not attributing material she used in a Memorial Day column. A subsequent Toledo Free Press investigation revealed three such instances in total, and we immediately dropped Thurber from our lineup. Very publicly.

During two high-profile firings, one UT dean who failed to attribute information in a guest column, and one in-house firing, we continually overhauled our contribution process. We now have an in-house fact-checker who runs every submission through a Web site that scans the Web for identical wording. UT Communications Chairman Jim Benjamin conducted a two-hour June 24 training seminar for our staff on ethics, plagiarism and the mission of maintaining and credibility. We have asked readers to help us maintain contributor integrity. We are also working on establishing an ombudsman so readers have an independent voice to contact when they have questions or concerns.

In retrospect, not making an announcement about Schwartz to our readers was inconsistent with our policy and our efforts to be the most transparent and accountable newspaper in Toledo. That inconsistency is solely my responsibility, as my duty is to readers first.

As with any new business trying to establish a reputation for the long run, we are on a learning curve, and we expect mistakes are part of that process.

Michael S. Miller is editor in chief of Toledo Free Press. Contact him at mmiller@toledofreepress.com.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 1:00 am and is filed under Lighting The Fuse, Opinion.
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