Courtesy the Orange County Register

(December 30, 2010) ESPN responded to the reports that ESPNews anchor Will Selva used a section of a recent Kevin Ding column without attribution on the air Tuesday night. The ESPN reaction is first, then Kevin Ding’s original blog post about discovering it follows.

And the most recent development is that AOL’s Fanhouse is reporting Selva was suspended for an indefinite period.

From Will Selva, ESPNews anchor:

“I made a horrible mistake and I’m deeply sorry. I did not live up to my high standards or ESPN’s. As I often do, I research local stories to use as background for writing my script. In this case, I cut and pasted the story with every intention of writing my own. I simply forgot and I completely understand why this is a major problem. I sincerely apologize for my sloppiness, especially to Kevin Ding, viewers and colleagues. In my 15 years in broadcast journalism, nothing like this has ever happened and I will make every effort to ensure it won’t happen again.”

From ESPN vice president of communications Josh Krulewitz:

“This is something we take extremely seriously and we’ve taken appropriate action. We looked into how it happened and found that this very bad mistake was made because he should have been more thorough, even on deadline, not because he was intentionally trying to claim someone else’s work as his own.”

Here is Kevin Ding’s original post:

Hey, Will Selva of ESPNEWS. Glad you liked my last column so much. Try not to plagiarize it next time.

I got back to my hotel room late Tuesday night after the Lakers-Spurs game and turned on ESPNEWS’ “Highlight Express” show. Imagine my shock when anchor Will Selva proceeded to use the first several paragraphs of my column looking forward to the game as his lead-in to the highlights.

I mean, word for word.

"Christmas isn’t over yet, Lakers fans.

The big game, it turns out, will be the game after the supposed Game of the Year.

In San Antonio on Tuesday night, the Lakers will be out to give themselves and their fans the much-needed gift of hope."

Honestly, it wasn’t my best lead, come to think of it. Sorry about that, Will.

Unbelievable.

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