Funny, but those websites, which just "copy and paste" content from other, more reputable websites will not benefit from that. Why? Because Google always shows firstly the older posts with the same content, and then - more recent posts. So, the original source of the information will always be shown above in the search results. Besides, people are not stupid creatures. All these SEO tricks and duplicate content may lead some extra traffic to your insufficient quality website, but as for me, trust and respect of real users, not search engines, matters more.
Don't worry man, this is thing of the past. In future, less and less websites will regurgitate content. At least, this is my presumption. In order to survive long term, you will have to provide real value which means creating unique content that will be relevant for a long time. Guys that hired you probably do not have a clue. In other words, their website will be short-lived.
I don’t think so! They can use the same information, but describe it from different! How do you think, what is the concept is " information war"! You can use only checked news and it will be the right choice! As for me, I like the NY magazine, The Times, The Daily News! Information it is the most costly thing in our world!