Currently making his first public statements after a scandal: Jonah Lehrer. ”If I write again, then what I write will be fully fact-checked and footnoted,” he said.
MORE STUFF: What led Jonah Lehrer to this point?
Bob Dylan has angrily responded to charges he plagiarized some of his lyrics, calling critics “wussies and pussies” and saying musical appropriation is “part of the folk tradition.”
In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine for its Friday edition, the influential singer-songwriter made his first public comments on the accusations, saying that in folk and jazz music “quotation is a rich and enriching tradition.”
“Everyone else can do it but not me,” he complained. “There are different rules for me.”
Another key line: “I’m working within my art form. It’s that simple. … It’s called songwriting. It has to do with melody and rhythm, and then after that, anything goes. You make everything yours. We all do it.” Our question: How does this make Jonah Lehrer feel?
Jonah Lehrer just lost his Wired job, too: With Lehrer’s reputation already in tatters after it was found he fabricated quotes in his most recent book, NYU professor and occasional Wired contributor Charles Seife (on the request of Wired), did an analysis of Lehrer’s Wired work. The above graphic shows what Seife found. As you see, only one of the 18 listed articles doesn’t have a single checkmark on his list of journalistic misdeeds. While Wired chose initially not to publish the piece, Slate had no problem throwing it on their site. The result? Wired just issued this statement: “Lehrer’s failure to meet WIRED editorial standards leaves us no choice but to sever the relationship.” Ouch.
I have decided that I will not be able to serve a second term as a Successor Fellow of the Yale Corporation. I am reexamining my professional life and I have recognized that, in order to focus on the core of my work, I will have to shed some of my other responsibilities.Time and CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria • Revealing to Yale President Richard C. Levin his plans to resign from the school’s governing board, weeks after he received a major professional scare — getting suspended from his two main gigs after getting caught plagiarizing. (Both CNN and Time eventually accepted him back.) Zakaria likely had too much on his plate: “My service at Yale is the single largest commitment of time, energy, and attention outside of my writing and television work,” he also wrote in his note. Levin graciously accepted the note and thanked the journalist for his work.
Zakaria’s apology:
“Media reporters have pointed out that paragraphs in my Time column this week bear close similarities to paragraphs in Jill Lepore’s essay in the April 23rd issue of The New Yorker. They are right. I made a terrible mistake. It is a serious lapse and one that is entirely my fault. I apologize unreservedly to her, to my editors at Time, and to my readers.”
Time Magazine’s statement:
TIME accepts Fareed’s apology, but what he did violates our own standards for our columnists, which is that their work must not only be factual but original; their views must not only be their own but their words as well. As a result, we are suspending Fareed’s column for a month, pending further review.
The otherwise well-regarded journalist was caught copying parts of a New Yorker article on gun control without offering proper credit.
EDIT: CNN is also suspending the host, saying he used a portion of the TIME column in a blog post, complete with plagiarism.
“We have reviewed Fareed Zakaria’s TIME column, for which he has apologized. He wrote a shorter blog post on CNN.com on the same issue which included similar unattributed excerpts. That blog post has been removed and CNN has suspended Fareed Zakaria while this matter is under review.”
Newly-unemployed author Jonah Lehrer may have questionable judgment about Dylan quotes, but he has decent taste in houses. He and his wife spent $2.25 million on this home, once owned by legendary architectural photographer Julius Shulman. Something tells us the mortgage payments might not be quite so easy after today.
CORRECTION: Wrong house. Updated with the correct photo. Still a nice house, though. Apologies for the mix-up.
When I asked about aspects of his interactions with Rosen, Lehrer provided a sketchy timeframe and contradictory specifics—he first told me that he had personally exchanged emails with Rosen, then attributed this supposed email exchange to his literary agent—then further claimed that Dylan’s management had approved the chapter after being sent a copy of Imagine. He added that Dylan’s management didn’t want their cooperation sourced in the book. But when I contacted Dylan’s management, they told me that they were unfamiliar with Lehrer, had never read his book, there was no bobdylan.com headquarters, and, to the best of their recollection, no one there had screened outtakes from No Direction Home for Lehrer. Confronted with this, Lehrer admitted that he had invented it.
Holy. Shit. (via popsins)
Jonah Lehrer has since resigned from the New Yorker and his publisher is halting shipments of print copies of Imagine. (via capitalnewyork)
In other words, a slow news day in the world of journalism scandal. This is actually round two for Lehrer. As it is, Dylan says so much interesting stuff already — why do you have to make it up, anyway? (Update: Joe Hanson has pasted a version of the article on Google Docs, because the site is down.)
Remember Stephen Glass? The man at the center of a major Clinton-era journalistic scandal at The New Republic (shown above in film trailer form) is looking to make a comeback — as a lawyer. Glass, now 39, has poured tons of money into the effort, and has worked hard to rehabilitate himself and his image, even going through therapy. And his boss, trial lawyer Paul Zuckerman, is one of the strongest advocates for his push to get a California law license, giving him a second chance after reflecting on his own earlier substance abuse. ”People can say he is fooling me,” Zuckerman said. “But I truly know the man.”
Yesterday Tumblr blogger Joshua Gross tried to make a really good point about how cab drivers in New York City made a ton of cash off of a set of buttons that artificially raised the size of the tips they were given. Not long after that, The Next Web posted essentially the same thing with two paragraphs copied almost word-for-word, giving little credit initially. Gross got upset, complained, and drew the wrath of TNW’s CEO, Zee M. Kane. A couple sample tweets:
@endtwist @harrisonweber and i think “copying” is pretty extreme. Facts are facts, and we included them.
— Zee M Kane (@Zee) May 14, 2012
@endtwist @harrisonweber think it’s pretty ridiculous that you’re even getting the slightest bit annoyed about this.
— Zee M Kane (@Zee) May 14, 2012
@endtwist @harrisonweber needless to say, we’ll be staying well clear of anything ur involved with in future for fear of ridiculous reaction
— Zee M Kane (@Zee) May 14, 2012
Then Hacker News, where the story was originally posted, noticed the uproar, and from there it turned into a mess. Kane eventually wrote an apology on Google Docs, while still denying the plagiarism allegations, which ended as such: “Secondly, seriously keep my mouth shut until I know all the facts. Even when I’m sure I know them, check again.” (Initially it said “keep your mouth shut,” which made it sound like he was attacking his readers.)
To put it simply, there’s a right and a wrong way to aggregate, and The Next Web is doing it wrong. (Especially with that response. You took his story; be gracious.) Rewrite. Add something new. Don’t just copy word for word. In some newsrooms, this would be grounds for dismissal. Don’t forget that.
Katharine Zaleski, the Post’s executive director of digital news, told me today that Pexton’s description of an online operation focused on churning out content is inaccurate.
“We have incredibly high standards to the point where this idea [of Pexton’s] that we’re pumping things out is ridiculous when you compare us to some of the other news organizations that have people publish immediately [without editing],” she said.
Zaleski said BlogPost has copy editors that read over posts prior to publication, and work with writers. (She would not speak about Flock, citing Post policy to not comment on personnel matters.)
The blogger in question, Elizabeth Flock, left the paper last week after an article of hers was singled out by in an editor’s note for a “significant ethical lapse.” While some saw Pexton’s column as shining light on the pressure aggregators face (we offered a brief take here), others felt that Pexton was being sympathetic to someone who plagiarized. Zaleski also took issue with Pexton’s presentation of the issue as one of neglected younger employees, whose grievances he cited anonymously: “I have no idea what he’s talking about. I don’t know who he’s talking about. I’m young, so what does that mean?”
(Disclosure: I work for the Washington Post Company, but not at the Post proper. — Ernie @ SFB)
Yahoo wants to buy Hulu now too. They’re going on an “I...
I’m moving back to New York in a few days. Unlike past...
OMG. I got so...
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
Our inquiry did conclude that there had been an unacceptable violation of our journalistic standards. Material published in our pages borrowed from the work of others, without attribution, in ways which we cannot defend and will not tolerate.Politico editors John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei • Revealing last night that one of their reporters, Kendra Marr, resigned over alleged plagiarism allegations involving a New York Times article. Marr’s own piece included similar phrasing, something which the Times reporter noticed. “Marr is a friend and colleague who has produced much outstanding work here and elsewhere. She offered her resignation Thursday, and we accepted,” the editors noted. In the end, a total of seven of Marr’s articles had to be amended after the plagiarism accusations came to light. Here’s the one that led to her resignation. Here’s the Times’ original article. And here’s The WaPo’s Erik Wemple mashing them together.
In one of the great battles of Memedom, this one might be remembered as the “War of Attribution.” What happens when a guy who draws a ton of memeworthy comics goes up against a site that aggregates comics just like his without any attribution whatsoever? Drama. That’s what happened when the guy behind The Oatmeal merely asked for a little credit for his work from the site FunnyJunk — after they stole all his content.
The Washington Post suspended one of its most seasoned reporters Wednesday after editors determined that “substantial” parts of two recent news articles were taken without attribution from another newspaper.
Sari Horwitz, a longtime Post investigative reporter, was suspended for three months for plagiarizing sections of stories that first appeared in the Arizona Republic. [read more]
In case you need a reminder that plagiarism doesn’t pay, meet Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. The German defense minister, who is a rising political star in the country and makes our career look like the joke it is, resigned over allegations that he pilfered large parts of his doctoral thesis. ”I informed the chancellor in a very friendly conversation that I’m resigning from political offices and requested to be relieved. It’s the most painful step of my life,” he said. He admitted to “grave errors” in the 2007 thesis, but emphasized that he did not plagiarize it. However, this goes against what German media found – scores of pilfered phrases from other documents. The end result? Guttenberg no longer has a doctorate. On the plus side, we’re now on the same playing field as he is. source
Copyright 2009-2013 Ernie Smith • Ask us stuff! • E-mail us • Follow us on Twitter • Follow us on Facebook
