Nothing is more critical to a newspaper, or any news organization, than its credibility. Being a trusted source of information is our stock in trade, and without that credibility, we might as well shut down the presses and sell them for scrap metal.

Newspapers are suffering in the current economic climate and reacting with dramatic cost-cutting measures, including layoffs, buyouts and, in extreme cases, the actual closing of doors. The Star has not been immune and last week announced it was forced to lay off seven people.

There is a false assumption that the reason for the economic woes is a loss of credibility, resulting in dramatic circulation declines. That's not quite the truth. Although it's true newspapers are facing circulation declines, they are not as dramatic as portrayed, and the losses are more related to societal and cultural changes than a loss of trust. People cancel their newspapers for all sorts of reasons, including the perception that the newspaper is not credible. But, by far and away, the No. 1 reason people quit newspapers is because they don't feel they have the time to read them.

The biggest cause of our economic woes is the disruption of our business model. The Internet has had a much greater impact much faster than anyone anticipated. The areas of automotive, real estate and employment, which are part of the classifieds, have been especially troubling. Some of the business that has been lost can be attributed to the economy and will come back. Some has been lost forever, at least in print. The one thing advertisers can't ignore, however, is that newspapers are the last mass medium.

What will become of newspapers is anybody's guess, although it is likely they will endure in an altered form. The only sure death warrant for newspapers is if they lose their credibility.

For that reason, I took a hard stand last week in dealing with a freelance writer who committed plagiarism. After being alerted that the writer had used material without proper attribution, we confronted the writer, who admitted doing so. The writer told us that he knew what plagiarism meant, but that he didn't think taking material from news sources off the Internet without attribution was improper.

We believed the writer when he told us he didn't think what he was doing was wrong. We also believed his promises that he wouldn't do it again. We could have suspended the writer's column for a few weeks, but I chose to take a tougher position and end the column and our association with the writer.

Making this all the more difficult, we were obligated to write a story identifying the writer and detailing the transgressions. Plagiarism is one of journalism's cardinal sins, and when it occurs, nothing less than full disclosure will suffice.

I hated to do that, because I knew we would expose the writer to public embarrassment. There was no question, however, that the writer had made a serious mistake and exposed The Star to public embarrassment. Plagiarism is nothing less than literary thievery, and ignorance, despite good intentions, can never be an acceptable excuse. Not in our business; not when our credibility is the commodity we trade in and the reason for our existence.

To our detractors, who somehow despite their dislike of The Star find time to read it in one form or another, my words will ring hollow and self-serving. And they are partially right. My words and actions are self-serving. But the readers of The Star must know in no uncertain terms that we do draw lines in the sand, that we are guided by core values, and that there is no tolerance or compromise when our core values are violated.

We are not infallible, and we've never claimed to be. We correct our mistakes in the paper every day on Page 2 and elsewhere in more prominent positions in the paper when warranted. We do so with the belief that our readers understand that journalism is not an exact science; that humans do make mistakes; and that the vast majority of the time we do get it right.

It is a constant and ongoing dialogue that builds a relationship of trust and the confidence that the reporters, editors, photographers and artists are hard bound to principles that are understood and credible.

When that relationship is lost, then we surely can write the obit for newspapers.

— Joe R. Howry is editor of The Star. He can be reached by phone at 437-0200 or by e-mail at jhowry@VenturaCountyStar.com.