(Credit: Fox News, screenshot, highlight added)

Fox News claimed that plagiarizing two sentences — or 50 words — from a Politico story on the sequestration was just a “reporting error.”

Jim Romenesko, who spotted the plagiarism, reported that Fox News unpublished the March 1 article and replaced it with an “Editor’s Note” excusing the plagiarism as a “reporting error” that was “unintentional.” The statement reads:

“EDITOR’S NOTE:

“Due to a reporting error, a March 1 FoxNews.com story on the timing and impact of the sequestration cuts used information from an internal research document that contained material previously published by other news organizations. The story did not properly credit the sources of that material, and has subsequently been removed from FoxNews.com.

“The uncredited use of the material was unintentional, and FoxNews.com regrets the error.”

Last year, Fox News was busted for lifting from an Atlantic Wire story without any credit. In that case, Fox News later re-wrote the story and added an editor’s note saying that “when this story was posted…an editor failed to properly source and add original reporting or language that would significantly distinguish it from” the Atlantic Wire‘s.

Hat Tip: Wasim Ahmad