The Cornell Sun, arbiter of Fine Journalism, subject of famous documentaries, and in the words of one of its former editors, “one of the best newspapers in the Ivy League” (i.e. “better than the Daily Princetonian”), has a bit of a paraphrasing problem: the September 25 issue contained two articles directly cribbed from Inside Higher Education.

On August 31, Inside Higher Education featured an article entitled “Jon Stewart, Oral Exams and More,” about new, “innovative” ways that a certain Professor Ryan Lee Teten has reached his students.

In a September 25 article, “Jon Stewart Book Aids Professors: Students find comedy increases interest in government,” the Sun relates more or less the exact same story about new, “innovative” ways a certain Professor Ryan Lee Teten has reached his students.

IHE: “He also wanted to consider whether the book would provide a good introduction to the key topics an intro course should cover, and whether it would encourage critical thinking.”

SUN: “He felt it offered a solid introduction to American government and encouraged critical thinking.”

IHE: “If you compare the table of contents of America the Book with those of traditional texts, Teten noted that they cover much of the same ground, with chapters on the presidency, Congress, the courts, the media, the world outside the United States, and so forth.”

SUN: “In comparing the content of America to standard introductory political science texts, Teten noticed that much of the same material was covered, such as the presidency, Congress and foreign policy.”

IHE: “First, he said that a review he did of America the Book convinced him that it was 90 percent true, with the rest satire.”

SUN: “Teten said that his research on the book indicated that 90 percent of the content was factual and that the remaining 10 percent was satirical.”

After the jump: more of the Sun’s creepy journalistic practice of paraphrasing and localizing boring stories from Inside Higher Education.

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