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Daily Beast Reporter Resigns After Plagiarizing From Weekly Standard

Lizzie Crocker reads '50 Shades of Grey' in a Daily Beast video / Screenshot
January 15, 2018

Daily Beast reporter Lizzie Crocker resigned over the weekend after her publication confirmed that she plagiarized from the Weekly Standard.

Crocker's last story with the Daily Beast, titled "How Katie Roiphe Became Feminism's Nemesis-in-Chief," published on Friday, borrowed heavily from a Weekly Standard article by Alice Lloyd that came out a day earlier, the Wrap reported.

The Daily Beast has since removed Crocker's piece from its website and replaced the story with a note saying that it violated the publication's code of ethics and standards.

"Editors' Note: The story published about author Katie Roiphe violated the Daily Beast's Code of Ethics and Standards and has been removed," the webpage now reads.

"Plagiarism is unacceptable," Daily Beast editor in chief John Avlon said in a statement to the Wrap. "Lizzie Crocker has offered to resign and her resignation was accepted."

"Though this was a difficult decision, we take plagiarism seriously, and will not allow the hard-earned trust we've built with our millions of loyal readers to be compromised," he added.

Crocker, who according to her LinkedIn page has worked with the Daily Beast since 2011, did not immediately respond to the Wrap's request for comment.

Avlon said he became aware of the incident on Saturday and immediately began an internal investigation, which confirmed that plagiarism did take place.

"A larger investigation of her work at the Beast has revealed no other incidents of plagiarism," Avlon said. "But one incident is enough."

New York Times Magazine contributing writer Thomas Chatterton Williams brought public attention to the incident, detailing the extent of the plagiarism on Twitter on Saturday.

https://twitter.com/thomaschattwill/status/952240164956524545

https://twitter.com/thomaschattwill/status/952268736739921920

https://twitter.com/thomaschattwill/status/952271578963808259

https://twitter.com/thomaschattwill/status/952278300759674880

Williams tweeted his "hypothesis" that Crocker felt comfortable plagiarizing Lloyd's piece because their respective publications have opposite political leanings—the Daily Beast being more liberal and the Weekly Standard being more conservative—so she assumed readers of the former were unlikely to check the latter.

https://twitter.com/thomaschattwill/status/952539652346564609

Published under: Daily Beast