Plagiarism in the news is really not ok. However this is something that been happening a lot.
I think this occurs a lot because journalists want to make their stories better.
They also want to write something that’s going to catch the attention of the reader. They might add in a statistic or a fact that isn’t true. A made up quote or add in a person that wasn’t there.
Sometimes the misleading facts or statistics are added make the story them much better and more interesting.
Journalist could have also added these facts for lack of information or knowledge on the subject.
It could have also been added to make the story longer before a deadline.
The problem with this is that people need to know what is actual happening in the world. Plagiarism is essentially a lie. That is where things get tricky.
As a journalist is it your job to entertain or to report fact?
Depending on what your “reporting” this answer might change.
If your reporting who is dating who in Hollywood you might think publishing untrue facts but if your reporting on the death of a the president plagiarism may not be a good idea.
I think with the growing amount of citizen journalist its harder to tell what stories are true. Then there is the celebrity world like you mentioned where tabloids print false news. So is it acceptable to print false stories if the reader has knowledge that the story may or may not be true.
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