Sports columnist fired for plagiarism

The Province newspaper in Vancouver has fired sports columnist David Pratt, the paper announced Wednesday. Pratt, who also hosts a 1040 AM sports talk-show, admitted to plagiarizing parts of a Sports Illustrated article by Rick Reilly. His regular weekly column, called “Pratt’s Rant,” was cancelled by the Province after a reader alerted the paper to the plagiarism. Pratt admitted to using the SI material and called it a “stupid mistake.” In an article published in the Province about his firing, he said material is often recycled in the radio business and “lines get used back and forth all the time.” The columnist said he should have credited the author for the material he used.