Plagiarism and fabrication are among the most serious ethical breaches in journalism. In addition to ethical concerns, plagiarism and fabrication can also cause legal trouble.

No matter how high an organization’s standards may be, year after year, credibility-destroying scandals surface. Some of the most respected news organizations in the country and around the world have been caught up in plagiarism or fabrication scandals. These include The Washington Post, National Public Radio, The New York Times, the Guardian, CNN, the New Yorker and the BBC. No news organization can regard itself as immune. These scandals damage and destroy both promising new careers in journalism and veteran journalists’ legacies. All too many plagiarists and fabricators have deliberately misled their editors, producers and audiences.