Media outlets publish cookie-cutter op-eds under different by-lines with the same false information
TAKOMA PARK, MD, October 9, 2014 -- Over the past three weeks, news outlets around the country have published op-eds and letters to the editor with identical phrasing under different by-lines suggesting they were orchestrated by a nuclear industry public relations campaign, Beyond Nuclear has found.
To date, Beyond Nuclear has identified nine articles containing the same, often false, talking points and sometimes identical language, written under seven different by-lines. The articles all promote the reprocessing of irradiated reactor fuel, but refer to it as “recycling,” sometimes as many as ten times in a single article. France is touted as the reprocessing Wunderkind.
“Media outlets should not accept articles that are clearly not the original work of the author and that have already appeared in other publications under a different by-line,” said Beyond Nuclear international specialist, Linda Gunter, who researched the apparent rash of plagiarism.
“These publications also failed to fact check, allowing themselves to be the voice-piece of the nuclear industry and repeating statements that are fundamentally untrue. All of this raises some serious ethical questions.”
The articles appeared mainly in regional newspapers but also in Forbes magazine. Read the full press release.