Posted on 03/24/2006 12:22:18 PM PST by summer
NEW YORK Ben Domenech's conservative blog Red America lasted all of three days at the Washington Post. He quit today after numerous examples of alleged plagiarism in his work surfaced. Yesterday, in a seprate matter, he had apologized for calling Coretta Scott King a "Communist" the day after her recent funeral.
The embarrassing episode for the Post culminated Friday afternoon when washingtonpost.com executive editor Jim Brady posted the following notice on the Web site:
"In the past 24 hours, we learned of allegations that Ben Domenech plagiarized material that appeared under his byline in various publications prior to washingtonpost.com contracting with him to write a blog that launched Tuesday.
"An investigation into these allegations was ongoing, and in the interim, Domenech has resigned, effective immediately.
"When we hired Domenech, we were not aware of any allegations that he had plagiarized any of his past writings. In any cases where allegations such as these are made, we will continue to investigate those charges thoroughly in order to maintain our journalistic integrity.
"Plagiarism is perhaps the most serious offense that a writer can commit or be accused of. Washingtonpost.com will do everything in its power to verify that its news and opinion content is sourced completely and accurately at all times.
"We appreciate the speed and thoroughness with which our readers and media outlets surfaced these allegations. Despite the turn this has taken, we believe this event, among other things, testifies to the positive and powerful role that the Internet can play in the the practice of journalism.
"We also remain committed to representing a broad spectrum of ideas and ideologies in our Opinions area."
David Brock, president of the liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America, issued a statement in response:
“We at Media Matters are pleased the Ben Domenech will no longer be employed by the Post, but serious questions remain about why he was originally hired. The Post still needs to explain why a partisan operative who admits he is not a journalist and who has a history of racially charged rhetoric, homophobic bigotry, and serial plagiarism was given a platform on Washingtonpost.com in the first place. We look forward to a full explanation of these and related issues by the Post.”
Criticism of the Post's hiring of Domenech had also emerged from within the paper's own ranks. Political reporter Dana Milbank in an online chat at the paper's Web site said today: "What I don't understand (although I haven't inquired) is why the website couldn't recruit somebody with more stature to do the job. This city is crawling with good conservative journalists with lots of heft."
You'll notice that the only liberals and/or Democrats who were willing to reject any affiliation with Brock were ones, such as Jane Mayer, who he had personally attacked in the past.
The rest seemed more than happy to count him as one of their fans, even though he is an avowed liar and smear artist.
Because the same old partisan hacks, racial rhetoric, anti-Christian bigotry, and leftist spin was getting boring?
That may be one of the stupidest lines ever written.
You know, President Bush works for 'the enemy.'
He is President of places like Ann Arbor, Berkley, Manhattan and Malibu.
Is he 'immediately suspect'?
How about if one of us got an op-ed gig at the NY Times?
You'd say just turn it down, right?
LOL!!!
Plagiarism is a serious offense. It isn't a more serious offense than writing fabricated stuff about an "8 year old heroin addict."
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