• by Ray Schultz , July 17, 2022

Firing a reporter for alleged journalistic offenses and publicizing it carries legal risks for the editor as well as the newspaper.  

Anne Blythe has settled the lawsuit she filed after being fired by the Raleigh News & Observer in 2018 over alleged plagiarism. The terms were not disclosed. 

Blythe sued the North Carolina paper, its parent company McClatchy and its then-Executive Editor Robyn Tomlin in 2019, alleging that she was treated unfairly and defamed, preventing her from earning a living as a journalist, Associated Press reports. 

Tomlin had said that the paper found “at least a dozen stories that contained phrases, sentences or, in some cases, whole paragraphs, lifted from other publications.”  
The result was that the paper said it was “part[ing] ways” with longtime staff writer Anne Blythe for “plagiarism and inadequate attribution,” according to iMediaEthics. 

The case against the paper and its parent company McClatchey reportedly was settled last year. This settlement concerns the case against Tomlin. 

“Anne Blythe filed suit in July 2019 against The News & Observer and its then-editor Robyn Tomlin to defend herself against accusations of plagiarism that cost Anne her job as a writer at The N&O in 2018 after nearly 30 years with the paper and related publications,” said James Hash, Blyth’s lawyer in a statement released to the media.

After an investigation, the paper had added Editor’s Notes to the affected stories. One concerned an article about a blogger winning $5 million after suing the Fyre Fest event, according to iMediaEthics. It said: 

“Editor’s Note: Since publication, the N&O has learned that passages from this story were taken in large part or in whole from this story by Vice News without attribution. This is a violation of our standards. We apologize to our readers.”

The statement about Blythe has been amended to include her response, although the paper holds to its position, according to the AP. 

Tomlin, commenting  on the settlement, said, “While we continue to stand behind the decisions made and what was published, I’m glad we can put this dispute behind us and move on.” Tomlin is now vice president for local news at McClatchy.