Michael Berke's story of gender crisis, church intervention, and transexual regret is a great one. It's so good, in fact, that the Associated Press stole it.
The AP's Kelli Kennedy came out with the Berke story over the weekend and it's been spreading across the world ever since. What she didn't mention in the text is that she ripped it off from the New Times.
NT staff writer Ashley Harrell broke the Berke story in October. Read it here, if you haven't already (it was a popular piece). Kennedy sure did read it -- and then redid it as her own, failing to mention that she'd lifted it from the New Times. That's bad any way you cut it, but for the Associated Press to do it, well, that's just disgusting. The AP, after all, was built on sharing other newspapers' stories, not stealing them.
And here's the kicker: Harrell and Kennedy are friends, having worked together at the Boca News. Note to Kelli Kennedy: Friends don't steal stories from friends and claim them as their own.
And at Thanksgiving time, too. The shame.
Oh, and here's another kicker: The same reporter, Kennedy, committed a similar (though less egregious) offense against this newspaper a few months ago. When writing about the state's investigation of Judge Larry Seidlin, she wrote that it was prompted by a "newspaper," failing to mention which one (yes, it was New Times). I wrote about it, noting the irony of the AP failing to cite the original source. That prompted a comment on the blog from Terry Spencer, the AP's Florida news editor, saying that 90 percent of what the AP does is original reporting.
Well, congratulations to Spencer and Kennedy on another "original" piece. You must be proud.
(I was going to write about gun-drawing Miramar Commish Fitzroy Salesman's supermarket meltdown, but lack the time. Tune in later).
