A note to Sacramento Bee readers

To our readers:

We owe you an apology.

The Sacramento Bee has determined that we published material from other media outlets without attribution, violating our standards and your trust.

Another local news organization recently alerted Bee editors to issues with a story written by reporter Ari Plachta, prompting an investigation into her published work. The investigation revealed that during Plachta’s time at The Bee, 19 of her 201 stories included phrases, sentences or passages that closely mirrored or even replicated the work of others, including seven news outlets.

Plachta, who joined The Bee in August 2022, covered environmental and climate issues. She resigned on Feb. 6.

Using someone else’s work without proper attribution — which includes similarities in wording and in the way a story is structured — is a significant breach of our journalistic standards and is strictly forbidden by The Bee. This strikes at the core of what we do and who we are, breaking our vow to readers to provide original, credible and trustworthy information that we have independently reported and published. The requirements for meticulous attribution are spelled out in company policy, which all employees acknowledge and sign.

Our ethical guidelines are unequivocal: “We do not use someone else’s work without proper attribution. Period.”

After receiving the initial complaint from another California media outlet, The Bee hired an outside editor — a veteran journalist familiar with the subject matter — to audit Plachta’s stories. That investigation found stories that appeared to use content from multiple state and national publications without proper attribution. As a result, we concluded that the stories improperly used others’ work.

Plachta said in a statement that, in some cases, the language in her stories unintentionally hewed too closely to other news outlets’ work.

“In rare instances, their language remained in my final drafts by mistake. This is not the standard I hold myself to, and I take responsibility for those errors,” Plachta said. “The Bee’s review identified cases of improper attribution, primarily in background and context paragraphs summarizing public information. I should have made sure these were entirely in my own words or properly attributed, and I am committed to preventing this from happening again.”

Following the review of Plachta’s reporting, we have added an editor’s note to every story that includes unattributed passages from other news sources, and we included links back to the stories written by other publications.

We apologize to those whose work was used without attribution, and to our readers and subscribers. We are committed to earning your trust every day.

Colleen McCain Nelson

Executive Editor of The Sacramento Bee

Statement

Ari Plachta’s full statement to The Bee: “As a reporter for The Sacramento Bee, I regularly reviewed information from other outlets. In some cases, while working under deadlines and pressure, my language unintentionally hewed too closely to theirs. In rare instances, their language remained in my final drafts by mistake. This is not the standard I hold myself to, and I take responsibility for those errors. The Bee’s review identified cases of improper attribution, primarily in background and context paragraphs summarizing public information. I should have made sure these were entirely in my own words or properly attributed, and I am committed to preventing this from happening again. However, I believe a small number of the flagged stories may be misidentified. Taken as a whole, these instances represent a fraction of the more than 200 news, enterprise and investigative stories I reported at The Bee. This experience has reinforced my commitment to upholding the highest journalistic standards of integrity, accuracy and fairness. I deeply regret giving readers any reason to question that commitment.”

Stories

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• Biden’s new California water rules spark broad backlash, as possible court battle looms
• California’s PG&E secures $15B loan from Biden administration. Critics call it a ‘bailout’
• Biden’s EPA approves California climate rules including ban on new gas car sales in 2035
• Newsom said California would offer EV rebates if Trump cut them. Where would the money come from?
• Despite potential gas price hike, California regulator calls climate program a ‘win-win’
• California approves fourth PG&E rate hike this year. How much will be added to your bill?
• A Newsom-backed bill to change California’s wildfire hazard rankings is taking heat. Here’s why
• The Park Fire is tearing through some of California’s last wild habitat for threatened salmon
• Park Fire is California’s largest ever blaze caused by arson, say officials. What are the penalties?
• President Biden expands Berryessa Snow Mountain monument to protect Molok Luyuk ridge
• Sacramento, other California cities would have to conserve far less water in new rules
• Newsom backs 3 dam removals on California rivers. Here’s where salmon may soon swim freely
• Gavin Newsom fast-tracks plan to build California’s first new reservoir in decades
• California poised to ban diesel truck sales in 2036: ‘This is a first-of-its-kind requirement’
• California voters poised to add abortion rights to state constitution, new poll finds