They Said It. We Said It, Too.

OK, this may be nothing. I am not a plagiarism expert. Here is an article from the EpiscopalLife Online website about some Episcopal churches consolidating. Note it has an Episcopal News Service byline, which means, I presume, they wrote it. It also has this link to an article from the local town newspaper. So far, so good. Now, let's read a bit from both articles.

First, from EpiscopalLife Online:

"The North Central Episcopal Ministry or NCERM, which was formed in November 1991, consists of St. Mary's, St. Andrew's, Calvary Church, and Grace Church in the Broad Brook section of East Windsor. Grace Church, which had decided to join the new parish in December, reversed its decision and voted not to join in the merger.

St. Andrew's had voted against the merger in December, but changed its position and decided to join, the newspaper reported.

The Rev. Peter E. Bushnell, senior missioner of the NCERM, said that St. Andrew's officials had participated in the planning process for the new ministry and he believes that they changed their minds during that process.

The new parish, which has yet to be named, will temporarily be located in St. Mary's Church in Enfield while officials look for a new location, Bushnell told the newspaper.

The parish will have almost 650 parishioners from Enfield, Somers, Suffield, and Windsor Locks, Bushnell said."

Now the local paper's article:

"The North Central Episcopal Ministry or NCERM, which was formed in November 1991, consists of St. Mary's, St. Andrew's, Calvary Church, and Grace Church in the Broad Brook section of East Windsor. Grace Church, which had decided to join the new parish in December, reversed its decision and voted not to join in the merger.

St. Andrew's, at 28 Prospect St., had voted against the merger in December, but changed its position and decided to join.

Rev. Peter E. Bushnell, senior missioner of the NCERM, said that St. Andrew's officials had participated in the planning process for the new ministry and he believes that they changed their minds during that process.

The new parish, which has yet to be named, will temporarily be located in St. Mary's Church at 383 Hazard Ave. while officials look for a new location, Bushnell said.

The parish will have almost 650 parishioners from Enfield, Somers, Suffield, and Windsor Locks, Bushnell said."

Notice any similarity? The ENS article and the Journal-Enquirer's article appear very similar. Almost word-for-word similar. The ENS article appears to credit the paper with but a few items, and the rest appears to be original content (hence the byline). Shouldn't ENS have credited the paper more directly, or noted more clearly that they reprinted most of their article? Or, is providing the link sufficient credit?

There appears to be similar commonality between parts of this ENS article by Mary Frances Schjonberg, and this article in the New Haven Register. So maybe this is an accepted practice and I am making a mountain out of a molehill.

Like I said - it may be nothing. I'm not trying to get anyone in trouble. I'm just asking.