I briefly touched on this earlier today in the links, but this story kept building and finally came to a crescendo late this evening. ESPN has suspended ESPNews anchor Will Selva for taking the first paragraphs from Orange County Register writer Kevin Ding’s preview of a Los Angeles Lakers game and then using it as a lead-in for his own story, practically reading them verbatim.
Joe Bershad of Mediaite and SportsGrid had the video of Selva’s lead in and compares it to Ding’s column.
Ding himself reacts to the whole situation.
Milton Kent of Fanhouse broke the story on Selva’s suspension which is for an indefinite period of time.
Really good on Kevin Ding for speaking out. The problem is that this is more of a common practice than you think. I’ve worked with radio people who would read local newspaper articles verbatim and pass it off as regular Associated Press wire copy. I’m surprised more writers haven’t spoken out. Ding happened to be watching ESPNews and noticed that Selva was using his lede.
For his part, Selva has admitted lifting the paragraphs.
We’ll see what the ramifications of this story are over the next few days.
