Wed Jul 13, 2011 8:36am EDT The journalistic improprieties keep piling up on both sides of the Atlantic as one journalist was fired and another suspended for plagiarism this week. The Kansas City Star dismissed columnist Steve Penn for copying material from press releases and claiming the opinions of other writers were his own.

I am honored that you have chosen me as the subject of your journalism school graduate thesis. At the behest of your instructor, you e-mailed me to ask how I've "built my personal brand over the years." I'm answering with this column.