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."
FYI.
Sounds like a set-up.. what he really on the Right or did he start this just to go down in flames in front of the cameras?
Ummm...because someone with more stature would not have been a public embarassment to conservatives?
Yep. The Junk Media always go find the fringes wack so they can quickly fire them and say "See we tried it". Why don't you partner with Powerline or Captians Quaters or Hugh Hewitt Washington Poop?
This allows them a face saving maneuver to get rid of the guy.
Still, why do they allow David Brock to post on their board? You'd think any newspaper sensitive to plaigerism would be equally sensitive to treason and betrayal ~
Well, shoot. Most of that applies to about 90% of all main stream "journalists."
"I don't know, but I think Dana Milbank's comment is funny, in light of the fact the WaPo was hiring a BLOGGER. She said:
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.
Apparently, she thinks bloggers must ALSO have a lot of "heft" before they have the right to be head. LOL..."
Ummmmm....Dana Milbank is a man.
Careful Dana, that kind of thinking can get you knocked off the DC party list. Don't you know, he was hired to fail?
Well, it does seem odd they did not even consider anyone else.
Pssst, Dana's a guy
she = he / Sorry!
And, frankly, I didn't even know that -- I did know the name though, in that the name worked in MSM!
Seriously, I've never heard of the guy, has any Freeper?
Seems like there is lots of talent out there, they could have just hired an average Freeper for above average commentary.
Dana Milbank is a neutered man. The only kind of 'man' the MSM will publish.
He has a famous father or something.
So what's the response to the NY Times running multiple fake Bush bashing stories in the last few days? What's worse, pladarism, or just making it up?
Journalism needs an enema.
This guy hurt the many great conservative bloggers out there with his arrogance and unprofessionalism. I'm assuming he will be booted from RedState.org very, very soon.
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