The editor of News Corporation's The Australian has apologised to The Age for plagiarising stories from The Age Online.

In a response to criticism from The Age editor-in-chief Andrew Holden, Clive Mathieson admitted to news commentary website Crikey that The Australian reporters had copied stories from The Age.

Mathieson said: ''It does appear that on these occasions our briefs ripped off information from The Age website. The reporters who compiled the briefs have been told in no uncertain terms that it is unacceptable. Apologies to The Age. It won't happen again.''

Age journalists had noticed that short news items in The Australian's Victorian edition had a very close similarity to their own stories.

''We know The Australian is obsessed with The Age, but we didn't realise it extended to actually plagiarising our work,'' Holden told Crikey.

''They are clearly going online and copying and pasting our work … We're happy to provide them with a direct news service if they would prefer. For a small fee.''