Television networks often rely on newspapers for reporting, but using the same words without attribution is a violation of journalistic standards. The words were originally written by Kevin Ding, who covers the Los Angeles Lakers for The Register.

Mr. Ding previewed Tuesday's game in San Antonio by writing, "The Lakers will be out to give themselves and their fans the much-needed gift of hope." After the game, he happened to be watching ESPNews when Mr. Selva told viewers that the "Lakers were out to give themselves and their fans the much-needed gift of hope."

Mr. Selva also repeated two other lines almost verbatim. Mr. Ding wrote in a blog post shortly thereafter, "Hey, Will Selva of ESPNEWS. Glad you liked my last column so much. Try not to plagiarize it next time."

Mr. Selva quickly acknowledged the copying. "As I often do, I research local stories to use as background for writing my script," he said in a statement distributed by ESPN. "In this case, I cut and pasted the story with every intention of writing my own. I simply forgot and I completely understand why this is a major problem. I sincerely apologize for my sloppiness, especially to Kevin Ding, viewers and colleagues.
In my 15 years in broadcast journalism, nothing like this has ever happened and I will make every effort to ensure it won't happen again."

Mr. Selva has not anchored any newscasts since Tuesday night. ESPN would not confirm reports by The Register and the AOL FanHouse blog that he had been suspended, but it said in a statement, "This is something we take extremely seriously and we've taken appropriate action."

There was no indication that Mr. Selva would be permanently replaced. ESPN said in its statement that his mistake had been unintentional.