Cut and paste: On February 19, the Portland Press Herald ran a story by staff writer Kelley Bouchard on a federal grant the city of Portland received to improve Internet service and other technology upgrades at three schools.

Much of this article, including all the quotes from a school official, appears to have been lifted, without attribution and with only minor changes, from a press release put out by the Portland Public Schools on February 18.

From the release: “The grant, combined with a $56,000 local match, will pay for installing new network cable, wireless service and Voice over Internet Protocol equipment at Riverton and Presumpscot elementary schools and King Middle School. When the work is completed, every classroom in those schools will have high-speed Internet service.”

From Bouchard’s story: “The grant, combined with a $56,000 local match, will pay for new network cable, wireless computer service and digital voice equipment at Riverton and Presumpscot elementary schools and King Middle School.

“When the work is completed, every classroom in those schools will have access to high-speed Internet service.”

From the release: “The school department has requested an additional $500,000 in CIP funds for technology needs during the next fiscal year. That will cover the cost of upgrading network cables, wireless service and other equipment at all remaining schools: Longfellow, Lyseth, Hall, Peaks, Moore, Lincoln and the building shared by Portland Arts and Technology High School and Casco Bay High School.”

From Bouchard’s story: “School officials have requested an additional $500,000 in capital improvement funds to upgrade network cables, wireless service and other equipment at Hall, Longfellow, Lyseth and Peaks elementary schools, Lincoln and Moore middle schools and Casco Bay High School.”

From the release: “When all of the upgrades are completed,” said Makley, “we will have a system in place that should meet our technology needs for 10 years or more.”

From Bouchard’s story: “When all of the upgrades are completed, we will have a system in place that should meet our technology needs for 10 years or more,” Makley said.

Bouchard did insert a few paragraphs of background from previous stories in the middle of the piece. But nowhere in it did she indicate she was lifting statements and quotes, nearly verbatim, from a press release.

This isn’t reporting. But there is a word for it.

Delhi-cate transplant: Speaking of borrowing liberally from an unattributed source, the Portland Press Herald’s new Web site bears a startling resemblance to that of the Times of India.

A reliable source at the Press Herald confirmed the Times site was employed as a model for the Portland paper’s online upgrade.

A comment on comments: Kennebec Journal managing editor Tony Ronzio has posted an interesting piece on his paper’s decision to allow online comments on coverage of a controversial murder trial.

The case involved explicit gay sex acts, which inspired the Press Herald (the KJ’s sister paper) to ban all readers comments and to brag about that move as a sign of the paper’s sensitivity.

What Ronzio and his staff discovered was that, contrary to the Press Herald’s fears, no comments were posted that violated the normal standards for online discussion.

Maybe the Portland paper will think twice in the future before deciding to play censor.

Positive spin: The MaineToday Media papers (the Press Herald, KJ, and Morning Sentinel) ran a story by staff writer Ethan Wilensky-Lanford on February 17 assessing the impact of federal stimulus funds in Maine.

Good idea.

Bad execution.

The headline in the Morning Sentinel version read, “Money well spent,” and from the comments included, one would be hard pressed to conclude otherwise. Not a single person interviewed offered even a mildly negative view as to how the cash was used.

Nevertheless, it’s difficult to believe, given the intense criticism of the program nationally, that Wilensky-Lanford couldn’t find a single prominent Mainer with a less-than-rosy opinion of the stimulus.

Maybe he should have tried asking a Republican or two. It might have made for a more balanced piece.

From the Florida bureau: Isn’t it time the Press Herald called columnist Bill Nemitz home from Miami, where he’s been covering the endless problems encountered by the Sea Hunter, a ship from Maine attempting to carry supplies to Haiti?

In spite of Nemitz’s relentlessly positive coverage, it’s obvious the crew of this ship, however well-intentioned, were unprepared and unqualified to undertake such a mission.

The Press Herald would do its readers a greater service if it spent less on excursions to Florida and more on examining the credentials of those seeking donations for worthy causes. While Nemitz hasn’t mentioned it, I have a sneaking suspicion that Mainers who contributed to more conventional relief efforts have already had an impact on lives in Haiti. Promoting the Sea Hunter’s ill-fated voyage has, in effect, delayed supplies that might already have been delivered to the devastated nation.

It’s also a bit disturbing that the paper has devoted more space, more time and more money to covering this ship than it has to the race for governor.

More Public Interest: The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting has doubled in size. According to a press release from John Christie, the center’s founder and the former publisher of the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel, Naomi Schalit has joined the staff. Schalit is a former reporter for Maine Public Radio and left her post as editorial-page editor of the KJ and Sentinel last year in a dispute with the new owners. Since then, she’s served as the executive director of the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence.

According to Christie, she’ll be both reporting and working on grant applications for the fledgling investigative-journalism outfit.

No powder puff: Speaking of Schalit, her son, Nathanial Herz, is covering the Winter Olympics for the Web site FasterSkier.com.

Herz is a refreshing change from the usual fluff stuff, particularly in his blog entries.

Talker for the towns: While we’re mentioning former KJ and Sentinel staffers, here’s one more. Eric Conrad, once the executive editor at the two papers, has a new job. Conrad had been serving as spokesman for MaineGeneral Health in Augusta, but will now be filling a similar role at the Maine Municipal Association.

Al Diamon can be e-mailed at aldiamon@herniahill.net.

The views expressed on this Web site are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily represent the views of Down East Enterprise or its employees.