Jack Shafer at Slate pointed out cases of plagiarism by The Beast invesigative reporters Gerals Posner.
In the aftermath of Posner’s firing by The Beast, Shafer talks about plagiarism and journalism ethics.
In an essay published by Media Ethics (fall 2006), Edward Wasserman attacks the wrong of plagiarism at its roots. Most everybody concedes that plagiarism harms plagiarized writers by denying them due credit for original work. But Wasserman delineates the harm done to readers. By concealing the true source of information, plagiarists deny "the public insight into how key facts come to light" and undermines the efforts of other journalists and readers to assess the truth value of the (embezzled) journalistic accounts. In Wasserman’s view, plagiarism violates the very "truth-seeking and truth-telling" mission of journalism.
What Shafer has to say is nothing new to those who know the SPJ Code of Ethics.
This is a good read and should be passed on.