Saturday, September 15, 2012

CD Post Re-Written by a Montana TV Station?

Read this CD post from last Wednesday on North Dakota oil output in July, and then read this news report posted yesterday by TV station KTVQ in Billings, Montana, and notice these similarities (especially the last comparison):

CD: North Dakota pumped another record amount of crude oil during the month of July at a rate of more than 674,000 barrels per day.

KTVQ: In July, North Dakota pumped a record amount of crude, at a rate of more than 674,000 barrels a day.


CD: The state’s oil production in July was 59% above a year ago.

KTVQ: Compared to a year ago, July's production level was up 59%.


CD:  North Dakota produced 62% more oil than Alaska in July, marking the fifth consecutive month that North Dakota has out-produced Alaska. The Peace Garden State surpassed Alaska’s oil production for the first time in March to become the country’s new No. 2 oil state, behind only Texas now.

KTVQ: July marked the fifth month in a row that the state of North Dakota produced more oil than Alaska. It was back in March that North Dakota surpassed Alaska's in oil production for the first time to become America's second biggest oil state.


CD: North Dakota continues to lead the nation with the lowest state unemployment rate at 3 percent in July, and more than five percentage points below the national average. 

KTVQ: North Dakota also continues to lead the nation with the lowest unemployment rate at just 3 percent - more than five percentage points below the national average.

Coincidence?

19 Comments:

At 9/15/2012 9:28 AM, Blogger Jon Murphy said...

Somebody on this blog is a spy for KTVQ!

 
At 9/15/2012 9:31 AM, Blogger Larry G said...

well the original CD post did reference: "... according to data released today by the state’s Department of Mineral Resources."

do ya think they might be ALSO reading that same source?

:-)

 
At 9/15/2012 9:33 AM, Blogger Tom said...

Great artists steal. - Steve Jobs

 
At 9/15/2012 9:38 AM, Blogger Steamboat Lion said...

@ Mark - I think Larrg might be right, or simply when you are both reporting the same narrow set of facts, the reports are going to look similar. I don't see the sort of duplication of phrases that is typical of plagarism.

@ Tom - shouldn't that be "great artists steal and then self-righteously sue anyone who dares steal from them"?

 
At 9/15/2012 9:45 AM, Blogger Jon Murphy said...

do ya think they might be ALSO reading that same source?

:-)


That sounds like something a spy would say! Burn him! :-P

 
At 9/15/2012 9:50 AM, Blogger Mark J. Perry said...

These two sentences are almost identical, and evidence I think of plagiarism:

CD: North Dakota continues to lead the nation with the lowest state unemployment rate at 3 percent in July, and more than five percentage points below the national average.

KTVQ: North Dakota also continues to lead the nation with the lowest unemployment rate at just 3 percent - more than five percentage points below the national average.

Note that the state does NOT put out a report, they put out monthly production data, so any commentary about the monthly oil production should be original and unique, which is not the case here.

Also, the state of North Dakota doesn't report anything about its state production compared to Alaska, and when it surpassed Alaska to become No. 2, etc.; I had to research that by myself.

This is 100% plagiarism in my opinion. You'll find dozens of reports on July oil production in ND, and not one of them is using the exact same sentences as my report.

 
At 9/15/2012 9:57 AM, Blogger Larry G said...

Prof. Perry is right .. there was no narrative from the state, just data.

 
At 9/15/2012 10:02 AM, Blogger Buddy R Pacifico said...

and the comments in the TV post are similar to CD also:

"I find it odd that 3% of North Dakotans can't find a job."

hmm

 
At 9/15/2012 10:10 AM, Blogger Arnie Kriegbaum said...

Maybe it is time for an expansion of the media output of CD. You could offer periodic video of either "Mark's Musings" or more fact-based reporting with you in front of one of those repeating pattern backdrops that are everywhere with your website all over it.

I feel like syndication to control copyright would be appropriate, as evidenced by this very post.

 
At 9/15/2012 10:15 AM, Blogger hancke said...

CD is the second Google search result for "North Dakota Oil Output". I have found CD to be in the the top 5 and first page Google search results on several topics. Easy pickings for plagiarists.

 
At 9/15/2012 11:28 AM, Blogger Methinks said...

What slobs!

 
At 9/15/2012 11:35 AM, Blogger Scott Drum said...

Maybe the staffer there went to Harvard where, apparently, cheating is an accepted practice.

 
At 9/15/2012 11:41 AM, Blogger Larry G said...

it IS pretty bad when traditional media starts copying blogs...

:-)

 
At 9/15/2012 3:45 PM, Blogger Ron H. said...

"Somebody on this blog is a spy for KTVQ!"

Hmm. Who could it be? This was never a problem before the new kid from NH started posting here. :)

 
At 9/15/2012 3:50 PM, Blogger Ron H. said...

I wouldn't expect TV news reporters to be capable of reporting this type of information on their own, so if they didn't get it from a news service, it's almost certainly plagiarism. :)

 
At 9/15/2012 9:52 PM, Blogger Linda Seebach said...

TV stations are notorious for copying; print journalists refer to the practice of using the morning newspaper as a source for the evening news as "rip and read."

Not clear whether cut-and-paste from a blog is an improvement or a decline.

 
At 9/15/2012 11:10 PM, Blogger Mkelley said...

When my sister lived in Idaho, she used "Q-2" to keep up on Eastern Montana news. She says it is better for that than our local Lee newspaper, the Billings Gazette, though that is not saying much. The Gazette is pathetic.

 
At 9/15/2012 11:37 PM, Blogger Methinks said...

Not clear whether cut-and-paste from a blog is an improvement or a decline.

From THIS blog? An improvement!

 
At 9/16/2012 2:24 PM, Blogger bart said...

Jon Murphy said...

Somebody on this blog is a spy for KTVQ!


I can not tell a lie, it wasn't me.

And imitation is the sincerest form of alttery.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home