Joe Valley's column for the Charlotte Sun consists of the same text from the ADA's website. (Credit: Old Word Wolf, Charlotte Sun, ADA)

Florida blogger “Old Word Wolf” spotted another case of a newspaper writer plagiarizing. In this case, the writer, Joe Valley for the Charlotte Sun, plagiarized from the American Diabetes Association website.

Valley’s article is a replica of ADA’s article on foot problems minus several paragraphs. The only other changes: a direct noun reference was changed to a pronoun, and a punctuation mark was changed.

The Charlotte Sun is a daily newspaper for Port Charlotte, Florida.  The newspaper has a circulation of about 35,000 according to Mondo Times and is owned by Sun Coast Media Group.

While Valley’s story doesn’t feature a byline, it does include Valley’s picture.  At the end of the “story” is a link and redirect to Valley’s own website. No byline is necessary, because this work is clearly being passed off as Valley’s.

“Old Word Wolf” commented on the plagiarism and Valley’s website:

“Old Word Wolf recommends several improvements: Stop plagiarizing. Learn to attribute. Write your own stuff — and then get a proofreader.”

Valley’s website has grammatical and spelling errors. For example, he wrote:  “I would love to here from others that are struggling with diabetes and here what they have discovered and what they are doing to cope.  It is my hope that this site will be of benefit to all who suffer with this terrible decease and with your help and suggestions we can improve upon it.”

iMediaEthics has previously written  about Old Word Wolf’s criticism of the Venice Gondolier Sun (owned by the same parent company as the Charlotte Sun) newspaper for having plagiarism and errors.

iMediaEthics has written to the ADA, Valley, the Sun and Old Word Wolf for comment. We will update with any response.