NBC News Admits Articles Were Plagiarized

Teaganne Finn

NBC News has ousted a politics reporter after uncovering evidence of plagiarism in at least 11 of her articles, reports The NY Post.

NBC News disclosed the incident in a note to its readers on Monday, revealing it had determined the 11 articles in question “did not meet our standards for original material” and “contained passages from other news organizations that were used without attribution.”

The note to readers did not name the reporter. But a source within the outlet told The Post that the reporter was Teaganne Finn, who joined NBC News last June to cover politics after a stint at Bloomberg.

The source confirmed that Finn is no longer with NBC News, though it’s unclear if she was fired or resigned.

The source at NBC News said editors first noticed an unattributed passage in one article with Finn’s byline during what was described as a routine editing process. The outlet found more examples of plagiarism after a more thorough review.

NBC News has since added an editor’s note to all 11 articles, which were published between over a period stretching from last September to as recently as February. The notes say that the articles contained passages that fell short of editorial standards, which have been removed from the original text.

The incident and Finn’s subsequent dismissal had a jarring impact on NBC News’ digital newsroom – leaving workers feeling “uncomfortable” and “on edge,” a second source who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Post.

The Post exclusively obtained leaked audio of the meeting in which current NBC News staffers learned of the incident. Catherine Kim, NBC’s senior vice president of global digital news, informed staffers of the incident during a virtual editorial meeting.

A somber-sounding Kim noted the plagiarized material was “generally background material, supplemental, not core to the story.”