Debbie Schlussel: Sports' Jayson Blair: Chicago Sun Times Sports Columnist Plagiarizes WNBA Player, Fabricates to Attack Me

By Debbie Schlussel

In his zeal to call me a "creep," Chicago Sun Times sports "columnist" Ron Rapoport invented and attributed to me a quote I never wrote or uttered, in his column in yesterday's edition of the paper. Rapoport wrote:
"OK, who's the bigger creep? . . . or conservative commentator Debbie Schlussel, who wrote, "Patrick looks like a woman, as opposed to the 169 players in the WNBA, who look like men.''

Where did I write that? It's not in my anti-WNBA column, to which he is referring. Rapoport is so LAZY, he didn't bother to read my column at all. Instead, he merely plagiarized a sentence from WNBA player Kayte Christensen's Arizona Republic column attacking me, and falsely presented it as a quote from my column. It ISN'T. Some journalist.

HEADLINE: CHICAGO SPORTS COLUMNIST PLAGIARIZES WNBA PLAYER

It's a sad day when a sports columnist needs to plagiarize a WNBA player for material. But don't look for a retraction in Rapoport's column. No fact-checking, false reporting, and plagiarism--three no-nos in journalism, and Rapoport's guilty of all of them. In response, the only thing he can say is "I'm Not Rappaport." Well, at least, he spelled my name right.

*** UPDATE: After an e-mail to Rapoport pointing out that he fabricated and plagiarized his column, attributing a quote to me that I NEVER uttered or wrote, Rapoport has the chutzpah to ask me to send him the column. What am I--his unpaid researcher? Call me a "creep," do your own research, lazy writer.

Posted by Debbie on June 23, 2005 09:52 AM to Debbie Schlussel