Teachers Union Chief Apologizes for Lifting Reporter's Script

AP

Randi Weingarten, right, president of the American Federation of Teachers, speaks to a crowd on the steps of Providence, R.I., City Hall March 2.

The head of a top teachers union has apologized for lifting parts of a New York reporter's script during a speech in California last month. 

Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, used several phrases directly from an NY1 television report on New York City schools' boondoggle computer system. NY1 afterward accused Weingarten of plagiarizing, leading the union official to apologize -- though she told NY1 she did not personally write the speech. 

"NY1 is right. These facts came from their excellent reporting. It was our intention to amplify the troubling misallocation of resources NY1 exposed, not to claim either NY1's reporting or the reporter's words as our own. It was our mistake not to clearly credit NY1 and its reporter Lindsey Christ," she said in a statement. "And, while we sourced many other materials, we neither sourced nor quoted this and I deeply apologize for that lapse. Educators know better and in the future due diligence we expect from others will be exercised here." 

NY1 on Wednesday published side-by-side comparisons of its report and Weingarten's speech, which was given to the Commonwealth Club in California on March 28. The topic for Weingarten's speech was on the importance of collective bargaining for public workers. 

In her remarks, Weingarten said: "The New York City Department of Education wanted to compile student information and give parents and teachers access to it, using one computer system. They said it would revolutionize the way schools work." 

NY1 said: "When the city spent tens of millions of dollars on a computer system for student information, officials said it would revolutionize the way schools worked." 

Describing a different computer system, Weingarten talked about how teachers "click on the picture of the student and get everything from attendance by class period, to parents' cell phone numbers, to last night's math homework, to even the type of help the student might need because the student has a disability." 

NY1 republished its original script, which told viewers about how teachers "click on their pictures to get what they need: Everything from attendance by class period, parents' cell phone numbers, the type of help the student should get because of a disability." 

The AFT has since added a footnote to the written copy of the speech on its website, acknowledging that "much of this information" came from the NY1 report. 

"This attribution was inadvertently omitted from an earlier version," the footnote said.

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Gulf oil rig owner apologizes for calling 2010 'best year' ever

The SEC report revealed a $200,000 salary increase for Transocean President and CEO Steven L. Newman. STORY HIGHLIGHTSTransocean acknowledges words were "insensitive" in light of 11 worker deathsExecutives get pay raises, bonuses, in part for the safety record, SEC filing saysCash awards based in part on company safety recordDespite Gulf oil spill, company called 2010 "best year in safety"RELATED TOPICSTransocean Inc.U.S. Securities and Exchange CommissionGulf of Mexico (CNN) -- The owner of the Gulf of Mexico oil rig that exploded last year, killing 11 workers and leading to what has been called the worst oil spill ever, said Monday that calling 2010 its "best year" in safety "may have been insensitive."

Transocean Ltd., in a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said hefty bonuses and raises to top executives were based in part on the company's "performance under safety" last year.

"We acknowledge that some of the wording in our 2010 proxy statement may have been insensitive in light of the incident that claimed the lives of eleven exceptional men last year and we deeply regret any pain that it may have caused," Transocean said in a statement to CNN. "Nothing in the proxy was intended to minimize this tragedy or diminish the impact it has had on those who lost loved ones. Everyone at Transocean continues to mourn the loss of these friends and colleagues."

The statement did not address the controversy over the decision to give out cash awards despite the oil spill disaster.

That includes a $200,000 salary increase for Transocean President and Chief Executive Officer Steven L. Newman, whose base salary will increase from $900,000 to $1.1 million, the SEC report said. Newman's bonus was $374,062, according to the report, which Transocean filed Friday.

Newman also has a $5.4 million long-term compensation package the company awarded him upon his appointment as CEO in March 2010, according to the SEC filing.

"Notwithstanding the tragic loss of life in the Gulf of Mexico, we achieved an exemplary statistical safety record as measured by our total recordable incident rate and total potential severity rate," the SEC statement reads. "As measured by these standards, we recorded the best year in safety performance in our company's history."

The company called that record "a reflection on our commitment to achieving an incident-free environment, all the time, everywhere," the SEC filing said.

The April 20, 2010, explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig injured 17 workers and killed 11 others, including nine Transocean employees, according to the SEC filing. It has been called the worst spill in U.S. history. The well was capped three months later, but not before millions of barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf.

In January, President Barack Obama's National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling released a report that spread blame for the accident among Transocean, BP -- which leased the rig -- and Halliburton, which installed the rig's cement casing.

The commission said problems with deepwater drilling are "systemic" and that only "significant reform" will prevent another disaster.

Another report released March 23 determined that the oil spill was caused by a piece of drill pipe trapped in the rig platform's blowout preventer, a device intended to stop oil from flowing into the Gulf. The report was commissioned by various U.S. agencies, including the Interior Department and the Department of Homeland Security.

The Interior Department has said a much broader report that relies on additional sources of data, including eyewitness accounts and photos, will be released this summer.

The oil spill has prompted a flood of lawsuits against BP, Transocean and Halliburton from a variety of plaintiffs, including owners of Gulf businesses who say they suffered heavy financial losses because of the spill.

The plaintiffs also include Transocean shareholders who contend the company falsely claimed it had remedied past safety problems with its blowout preventers before the Gulf spill.

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