The Washington Post suspended one of its veteran reporters Wednesday, March 16 after editors concluded that their journalist had plagiarized two “substantial” sections of recently printed articles.

Sari Horwitz, a weathered investigative reporter for the Washington D.C. Post, was suspended for three months for plagiarizing sections of two articles that first appeared in the Arizona Republic paper.

Horwitz simply cut-and-pasted material from the Republic’s online site onto her extensive word document, merged with material from her own notes.

“Under the pressure of tight deadlines, I did something I have never done in my entire career,” explained Horwitz in her official statement.

High school students and professional journalists alike face persecution for one of journalism’s most notorious sins. But in today’s modern society, nationwide newspaper editors and high school English teachers have to hold small leeway when encountering plagiarized work. With ever-growing digital technology and rapid online spread of news make ethical errors much more likely to be undistinguishable to journalists.

Procrastinating Placer students know the pressure of preserving their own work, but when interviewed, they mostly revealed brutal honesty in their work.

“As soon as you plagiarize, you lose your integrity and credibility as a journalist,” stated senior Tierra Schroeder, editor of the Hillmen Messenger.

 Some students took a harsher ethical approach towards the matter.

“It is basically stealing,” scrutinized sophomore journalist Lauren Taber.

With plagiarism-detecting websites and software, teachers are on the prowl for plagiarism more than ever. By requesting that essays be emailed from the students to the teacher, a teacher may then cut-and-paste material straight to plagiarism-detecting websites. If twin essays come up, the essay is guaranteed an automatic flunk.
Most students realize the dangers of failing a paper via plagiarism.

“It’s really important to present your own work because grades are really important and it would be ridiculous to flunk because of plagiarism,” said sophomore Kerry McCullough.  

Whether a journalist from the Washington Post, or a stressed out high school student, plagiarism is an ethical violation of one’s own work, and can be punished by a flunked paper or a three month suspension from one of the U.S.’s most distinguished papers.