Business columns canceled because of plagiarism

The Ventura County Star has canceled two business-related columns written by Jim Woodard because of multiple instances of plagiarism, according to a story in Wednesday’s paper.

The story stated, “Woodard wrote two columns for The Star, a profile of new businesses in Ventura County that appeared in the Sunday Business section, and a real estate column that appeared in the Sunday Star Homes section. It was in the real estate column that all instances of plagiarism were found.

“‘We have zero tolerance for plagiarism,’ Star Managing Editor John Moore said. ‘Our contract with our freelance writers includes a journalistic integrity clause that requires them to write their pieces in accordance with the law and generally accepted journalistic practices.’

“The plagiarism came to light after a communications director for a homebuilder in the area notified The Star that quotes from an executive with the company appeared in Woodard’s column, but that the executive never spoke to Woodard. The company said the information was from an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

“A search by The Star found that the information, which appeared in the March 2 real estate column by Woodard, was from a Feb. 5 story in the Wall Street Journal by Dawn Wotapka.”

Read more here.