Dave Pratt Fired from the Province

David Pratt is probably one of the best known sports journalists in our city. He always has something interesting to say, but it seems that not all of his words are his own.

The Vancouver Province has fired Pratt after he admitted to copying parts of a Sports Illustrated article from September 2000. The wording in one of Dave Pratt's recent articles is nearly identical to something written by Rich Reilly, a basketball commentator. The two quotes are shown above. There were three separate spots in the article that were very similar to Reilly's piece.

Province editor-in-chief Wayne Moriarty has a no tolerance policy for plagiarism, which he considers to be be "one of the most egregious of sins a journalist can commit." As a result, Pratt's regular column in the Province has been cancelled. Dave Pratt will continue to host his show on the Team 1040.

Source: CBC.ca

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[ READER COMMENTS ]

1

James H. said:

I've never been a big fan of Mr. Pratt or his opinions, and I am, as a former journalism student, quite opposed to plagarism. However, I do think this was a case of a zero tolerance policy coming down a little too hard. Yes, he did plagiarize some material, but I think being that it was a tongue-in-cheek one-liner, not a theory or deduction, not even something pertaining to the same sport, this might be a little excessive of a punishment. I don't think the plagiarized material gave him a changed insight or basis for his article and was very minor as far as plagiarism is concerned. If he had taken a commonly used phrase of jest such as "Cole was known for working hard... or hardly working." would he then be liable for plagiarism? Certainly he didn't coin the phrase but his usage of it was hardly theft. Our minds are sponges, who knows if he even remembers that he read that as opposed to creating it. I know these are a list of excuses, and yes what he did was a form of plagiarism but I don't think it warranted this level of punishment especially for such a long-term staffer with no previopus record of any sort of plagiarism. Sports journalism is full of people saying the same things over and over. Next I think we should fire Scott Rintoul for saying "Boom Goes the Dynamite" without quoting a source....

Posted at 05:30 PM, on June 5 2008

2

jnacci said:

Maybe the public wouldn't be coming down so hard on Pratt if he wasn't such a jerk. Yes, that does count. Canadians are forgiving types, but not after he tried to arrogantly shrug it off as not big deal after the fact ... then tried to claim ignorance suggesting the guidelines for print were different than those of the radio biz. I'm sure all the radio sports and news journalists are never EVER going to forgive him for saying that.

Posted at 11:43 PM, on June 6 2008

3

Rob said:

Pratt was looking for a competitive edge. Just like all those athletes he praises one day when they're on top, but Pratt so joyously slams the next when it comes out they've been caught seeking their own edge. I've also heard Pratt tear them apart limb to limb for the way they handle getting caught for "cheating". Plagiarism is one of the first things you are taught in elementary school as "cheating". Pratt has proved his hypocrisy and character by the way he responded to his own fall from grace. Not that he was ever there.

Karma can be hard.

Posted at 10:31 AM, on June 10 2008

4

Jim said:

Pratt always plagiarizes on the air. He makes statements like "rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for American steel", which was said by comedian Joe Lewis. I guess he believes that Canadians don't read or listen to american media outlets.

Posted at 11:00 AM, on June 18 2008

Dave Pratt Fired from the Province

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