Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Editor Admits Plagiarism, Quits
The editorial page editor of the Chicago Sun-Times has resigned, admitting he plagiarized part of a recent column from The Washington Post.
“I am very sorry for what I did,” Mark Hornung wrote in his final column published Friday. “In this case, that’s not enough.” He said he meant to use the Post material just as notes.
In a statement Thursday, Sun-Times spokeswoman Joanne Kitsos said the newspaper had learned from a reader that “a substantial portion” of Hornung’s Feb. 24 column on the balanced budget amendment was copied from an editorial that appeared the previous day in the Post.
Hornung said he had writer’s block during his attempt to report on the issue and he typed the Post editorial into his computer as notes.
“I then started to write over and around the notes,” he wrote. “I was not mindful that I was breaking the rules of my craft.”
Hornung said the Sun-Times’ owner offered him a job outside the editorial department. He said he did not know if he would accept the offer.
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