Wow, Jack Shafer over at Slate put the hammer down on Michael Finkel, and by default the entire media universe, for turning what amounts to the same blind eye toward plagiarism that professional cyclists turn to doping. My issue of National Geo with the malaria story on the cover sits unread still, and at this point I'm unlikely to make the effort -- because Finkel certainly *appears* to say that he's not sure there was really a problem with the NYT story, it makes it hard to tell if it will simply happen again, in a dexedrine fueled writing binge.
I'll feel better about plagiarism when the journalists peleton takes a stand, in the same way I'll feel better about cycling when the cyclists do the same.