'The Times Regrets the Act of Outright Theft': The Story of Today's Correction

By: Graham Webster Mark Washburn, a TV and radio critic for The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, got an unexpected call Monday morning from Jim Schachter, deputy culture editor at The New York Times.

"You've got your first byline in the Times, and I've got an explanation," Schachter told him.

While browsing Google News Sunday, Schachter had noticed an item by Washburn in Sunday's Observer about an ABC schedule change. Schachter forwarded it to Times colleagues as something that should be followed up on in the paper's "Arts, Briefly" column. Somewhere along the way, though, a Times staffer -- in her first day compiling "Arts, Briefly" -- mistook the advisory e-mail as an item submitted for publication.

And so Washburn -- who, remember, works for the Observer, not the Times -- got his item, and his byline, in Monday's Times.

Today's Times carried an "Editors' Note" explaining the mistake.

"[Washburn] got a twofer," Schachter told E&P. "He got his first byline in The New York Times on Monday and his second mention in The New York Times on Tuesday in an editors' note."

Washburn, who joked to E&P that he could have "plopped it down on my boss's desk and given two weeks notice," hadn't seen the Times yet when he got the call. "They were very nice about it," Washburn said. "Of course, I was flattered. I didn't mind a bit."

The mistake wasn't exactly plagiarism, as Washburn's byline did appear with his work.

"I guess it's outright theft, is the best way to put it," Schachter said. "And the Times regrets the act of outright theft."