Bloomberg News story plagiarized by New York Times?

Slate.com media critic Jack Shafer writes about the similarities in wording and entire sentences between a Bloomberg News story and one that was published in the New York Times with the byline of staff writer Alexei Barrionuevo.

Shafer wrote, “A second case of plagiarism by Barrionuevo has come to my attention. On July 15, 2005, Bloomberg News moved a story about the United States lifting ‘mad cow’ import restrictions on Canadian cattle. On July 16, 2005, the Times ran a very similar story, also pegged to a conference call with Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns.

“The Times echoes the earlier Bloomberg piece in at least four passages. (The Times passages are reproduced slightly out of sequence for the purposes of comparison.)

Bloomberg News:

The first shipments from Canada may arrive at U.S. slaughterhouses in days, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said today in a conference call.

New York Times:

The first shipments from Canada could arrive at American slaughterhouses as early as next week, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said in a conference call with reporters.”

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