Trump campaign accused of plagiarizing content on its website

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last updated 9 March 2016

A story published in 2012 by Boise State Public Radio KBSX appeared without attribution on Donald Trump's Idaho-centric webpage, the station's general manager says, and the author is afraid the outdated information will confuse voters.

"Clearly we were not contacted by the Trump campaign for permission to use old content from our website," Peter Morrill told Idaho Reports. "It's a 4-year-old story. Over the last four years, there have been changes to the election laws, and it's sad that they took the opportunity to use an old story that at the time was in fact accurate, but now because of changes in the election laws, is not the case now."

A former producer for Idaho Reports spotted the copied-and-pasted story on Trump's Idaho page, under the headline "Requirements to Vote for Trump." In addition to outdated information, it also includes a quote from former Idaho Republican Party executive director Jonathan Parker, who stepped down in 2012. "I was not aware that I was quoted on their website," Parker, a Ted Cruz supporter, told Idaho Reports. "I am not endorsing Trump for president. As far as ethical standards go, I would encourage them to fix it immediately." KBSX says it asked the Trump campaign to take the story down; after the Idaho Reports story was posted, the site added attribution and a link to the original story, but did not update the outdated information

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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