The Pitch’s Ben Palosaari is reporting that former Kansas City Star columnist Steve Penn, who was publicly fired last July after it was discovered he was stealing much of his information directly from press releases, is now suing Star parent McClatchy Newspapers, for defamation.
Penn is seeking $25,000 and punitive damages. In the suit, Penn claims that by the Star calling his columns plagiarism, the paper hurt his reputation and cost him employment opportunities. A hearing in the case is scheduled for November 14.
According to Palosaari, Penn claims that copying press releases was commonplace at the paper and throughout the field of journalism. His suit says part of his training at the paper even included using press releases and not attributing them to their source.
”In the normal editing process and a follow-up review, it was discovered that Penn had lifted material from press releases verbatim, in some cases presenting others’ conclusions and opinions as his own and without attribution,” noted the Star when reporting Penn’s termination. “Editors found more than a dozen examples in Penn’s columns dating back to 2008,” the article said.
Poynter has also outlined some of the reasons given for Penn’s termination (link). It also has a poll on taking information from press releases.
Penn has retained attorney Lyle Gregory, who won a $6.5 million judgment against KC’s Board of Police Commissioners last year for in the termination of a police officer based on race.
A former colleague at the Star was not as kind about Penn’s journalistic abilities.
“Steve Penn wasn’t merely fired because he slipped up and got caught,” he wrote. “He was fired because he wasn’t very good – which is being generous – and the paper stumbled on to an unimpeachable reason to rid itself of him.”
This lawsuit reads like a Mad Magazine bit.
You know you’ve got a lousy lawyer when….
- When the first line of your lawsuit reads ‘IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF JACKSON COUNTY, KANSAS,” and you’re in Missouri.
- When you refer to the publisher as the editor.
- When you misspell the publisher’s name. The first name AND the last name.
Perry Mason, he ain’t.
Penn’s Raymore, MO attorney did make some pretty major mistakes in the filing, including getting the state wrong.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/07/05/KCStar.pdf
I thought that The Star’s handling of Penn’s dismissal was a little over the top on the basis of the story that appeared in the paper at the time, quite possibly because he was black and the paper didn’t want to run the risk of alienating too many of its black readers, thus forcing it to go into great detail regarding the columnist’s “transgressions.” That story also would seem to suggest that some of the higher-ups at the paper were asleep at the switch since these “transgressions” had gone on for quite a while. Finally, it is unfortunate that Penn’s former colleague who thinks so little of his writing abilities is apparently unwilling to go on the record, but I’m not surprised, of course. And yes, Penn does need a more competent lawyer.