Politico scandal: Kendra Marr and the go-go journalism culture

WP reporting:

... in the case of some recent work by Politico Pro’s Kendra Marr, a reporter who joined the Pro team several weeks ago and began cranking out news-and-analysis stories on transportation. Politico’s top editors this week discovered that some of her work was borrowed from the previous work of other outlets. Marr resigned as a result of the findings.
An editors’ note on Politico.com gives the official line. It notes that editors had found examples of borrowing that violated Politico standards; that there was no evidence of fabrication; and Politico had edited the stories in question to properly credit Marr’s source material.
Beyond that, Politico higher-ups refuse to discuss the matter. Politico Executive Editor Jim VandeHei declined to comment on whether the site would show its work by publishing a side-by-side comparison of Marr’s original pieces vs. the purloinees. Chief Operating Officer Kim Kingsley writes, “Sorry, but we are not going beyond the letter to readers.”
Though answers are not issuing from Politico’s Rosslyn headquarters, there’ll be no suppressing the questions. Former colleagues and friends of Marr produce a unified description of her: sweet, industrious, earnest and dedicated to journalism. Even the editor’s note conveys the affection of the top editors toward this young talent. Her past is pretty much unblemished, save for an incident at Northwestern University, when Marr was studying journalism under a professor who reportedly had ethical challenges of his own. From the Chicago Tribune:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/post/politico-scandal-kendra-marr-and-the-go-go-journalism-culture/2011/10/14/gIQApZEYkL_blog.html