The Irish Examiner announced that Steven King resigned after being accused of plagiarism. (Credit: Irish Examiner, screenshot, highlight added)

Steven King resigned from the Irish Examiner after being accused of plagiarism, the Irish Journal reported.

iMediaEthics wrote earlier this month when King was accused of plagiarism and the newspaper suspended his column.  Examiner editor Tim Vaughan told  iMediaEthics at the time that the newspaper had tried to contact King following the accusations but was unable to reach him.

The Examiner announced King’s resignation in an Oct. 12 post and explained King’ lack of immediate response to the plagiarism charges by stating he was traveling to Ethiopia. King responded to the charges with this statement:

“I must apologise wholeheartedly if any material was unoriginal, any research was insufficiently thorough and if any attributions to other authors were insufficient.

“I could make all sorts of excuses: the pressure of work; a once fantastically happy marriage almost shattered by mental illness; the death of a partner which is extremely difficult to accept. But the buck stops with me.”

Vaughan is quoted as saying he is “surprised, angry, saddened and disappointed” by the situation.  Vaughan added that the newspaper makes “random checks” for plagiarism and must rely on “trust with regular freelance contributors such as columnists.”

The newspaper reportedly reviewed King’s work and also found “some lesser instances of misappropriated content, while others showed nothing untoward.”

According to the Examiner, Spiked’s Brendan O’Neill, whose work was plagiarized by King, responded to the resignation by saying he is “happy that this has come to an end and the way it has been dealt with by the Irish Examiner. The editor took it very seriously and the way he handled the matter was admirable. It was sorted out quickly and efficiently.”

iMediaEthics has written to the Examiner’s Vaughan for further comment and to learn if the newspaper will be appending notices about the plagiarism on the stories in question. We will update with any response.