FoxNews.com Apologizes For Lifting From The Atlantic Wire

Politico's Dylan Byers reports that a January 15 FoxNews.com article was nearly a word-for-word replica of a piece written by John Hudson at The Atlantic Wire:

John Hudson, a staff writer at The Atlantic Wire, has sent over a Fox News article about Navy-trained dolphins that looks remarkably similar to his own article from two days earlier.

From Hudson's piece on January 13:

The invasion of Iraq was the last time the minesweeping capability of dolphins was widely-touted. “Dolphins - - which possess sonar so keen they can discern a quarter from a dime when blindfolded and spot a 3-inch metal sphere from 370 feet away -- are invaluable minesweepers,” reported The San Francisco Chronicle. In 2010, the Seattle Times reported that the Navy has 80 bottlenose dolphins in the San Diego Bay alone. They are taught to hunt for mines and drop acoustic transponders nearby.

From the non-bylined FoxNews.com piece on January 15:

The invasion of Iraq was the last time the mine-sweeping capability of dolphins was widely-touted. "Dolphins -- which possess sonar so keen they can discern a quarter from a dime when blindfolded and spot a 3-inch metal sphere from 370 feet away -- are invaluable mine sweepers," reported The San Francisco Chronicle. In 2010, the Seattle Times reported that the Navy has 80 bottlenose dolphins in the San Diego Bay. They are taught to hunt for mines and drop acoustic transponders nearby.

The FoxNews.com article is still up, but it now includes an apology to The Atlantic Wire and a link to it. The FoxNews.com editor's note says that “an editor failed to properly source and add original reporting or language that would significantly distinguish” Fox's article from the Atlantic Wire piece.