Ten days after Talk of the Sound first reported that the editor of the newly launched New Rochelle Patch, the local operation of AOL’s Patch.com hyper-local news site, had lifted material from Talk of the Sound, the site has a new editor. Talk of the Sound had alleged that mug shots of suspects in a recent murder in New Rochelle had been downloaded from Talk of the Sound and published on New Rochelle Patch without permission and without attribution.
Allison Esposito has been replaced by incoming editor Michael Woyton who has previously worked on the Patch Bedford-Katonah.
The case received national attention reflecting an unease among journalists that Patch.com is over-working its underpaid staff leading to corner-cutting by inexperienced journalists and a lack of oversight by senior editors.
After several days of denials and false, defamatory statements about Talk of the Sound and Managing Editor Robert Cox (me), AOL Patch Editor=in-Chief issued a public statement admitting the allegations of plagiarism were true and claimed that Esposito lied to her AOL bosses.
Katy O’Connor, Esposito’s boss and the regional editor for the Hudson Valley area, had staked her journalistic reputation on her shrill assertions that the material has not been lifted and attempts at muddying the water by casting aspersions on Cox. O’Connor has not made any comment since AOL Patch chief Farnham apologized in a phone call to Cox last week.
O’Connor Should Go Too!
She certainly did a fine job looking into the original allegations of plagiarism. When a “news” agency is confronted with this kind of accusation, wouldn’t they want to really know how much truth there is in the charge? To really look into the matter she would have needed to have Esposito demonstrate her methods to some degree or face the final consequence of appearing to be oblivious to the facts, or worse yet, incompetent. Is that what we’ll come to expect from a news group serving in New Rochelle’s best interest? Maybe they can get together with Aman Ali and form the New Rochelle Foreign News Desk for Pravda.
go get them
Go get them big bad bob. No one and i mean No one comes on this site and steals your stuff. The truth shall set you free allison.Talk of the sound the one and only place to speak your mind about the real happenings in New Rochelle. Chuck and Noam sweating in there chairs not knowing what to do with you Big Bad Bob. Maybe Lou from Lou’s roundtable can help you with “the men the men”. Vote them all out in 2011
His home town is listed as Odessa, Texas
That is a fitting punishment for the former editor, proving once again that the cover up is usually worse than the crime and (cliche warning) that honesty is the best policy.