Full Statement by Conservative Blogger Who Resigned from Washington Post re Alleged Plagiarism

redstate.com ^ | March 24, 2006 | Ben Domenech

[summer]

Red America, my new blog at washingtonpost.com, has been under attack since its launch. It is a conservative blog on a mainstream media site, so many of the attacks were expected. If one bothers to read it, I believe it stands as a welcome addition to the opinion debate.

The hate mail that I have received since the launch of this blog has been overwhelmingly profane and violent. My family has been threatened; my friends have been deluged; my phone has been prank called. The most recent email that showed up while writing this post talked about how the author would like to hack off my head, and wishes my mother had aborted me.

But in the course of accusing me of racism, homophobia, bigotry, and even (on one extensive Atrios thread) of having a sexual relationship with my mother, the leftists shifted their accusations to ones of plagiarism. You can find the major examples here: I link to this source only because I believe it's the only place that hasn't yet written about how they'd like to rape my sister.
I know that charges of plagiarism are serious. While I am not a journalist, I have, myself, written more than one thing that has been plagiarized in the past. But these charges have also served to create an atmosphere where no matter what is said on my Red America blog, leftists will focus on things with my byline from when I was a teenager.

I can rebut several of the alleged incidents here. The most recent accusation, is that I stole a music review from Crosswalk and passed it off at National Review Online. In fact, I wrote both lists myself; I was one of Crosswalk's music review contributors at the time.

The Left has also accused me of foisting Sen. Frist quotes and some descriptive material from the Washington Post for a New York Press article on the Capitol Shooter. But the quotes I used were either properly credited or came from Sen. Frist’s press conference, which I attended along with many other reporters. So it is no surprise that we had similar quotes or similar descriptions of the same event. I have reams of notes and interviews about the events of that day. I also went over the entire piece step by step with NYPress editors to ensure that it was unquestionably solid before it ran.

Virtually every other alleged instance of plagiarism that I’ve seen comes from a single semester’s worth of pieces that were printed under my name at my college paper, The Flat Hat, when I was 17.

In one instance, I have been accused me of passing off P.J. O'Rourke's writing as my own in a column for the paper. But the truth is that I had met P.J. at a Republican event and asked his permission to do a college-specific version of his classic piece on partying. He granted permission, the piece was cleared with my editors at the paper, and it ran as inspired by O’Rourke’s original.

My critics have also accused me of plagiarism in multiple movie reviews for the college paper. I once caught an editor at the paper inserting a line from The New Yorker (which I read) into my copy and protested. When that editor was promoted, I resigned. Before that, insertions had been routinely made in my copy, which I did not question. I did not even at that time read the publications from which I am now alleged to have lifted material. When these insertions were made, I assumed, like most disgruntled writers would, that they were unnecessary but legitimate editorial additions.

But all these specifics are beside the point. Considering that all of this happened almost eight years ago, and that there are no files or notes that I've kept from that brief stint, it is simply my word against the liberal blogosphere on these examples. It becomes a matter of who you believe.

The truth is, a more responsible teenager would've nipped this sort of thing in the bud. A less sloppy writer would have made sure that material copied from other places never made it into a published piece, and never necessitated apologies or explanations that will do nothing to stop the critics. I was wrong not to do so.

But I do have one other collegiate example that might be to the point. When I was a junior in college, I wrote an article about liberal protests against Henry Kissinger’s visit to our campus. The leftists featured in the piece tried to get me kicked out of school. They mounted a six-month campaign against me. They posted fliers about me on campus. They sent me reams of hate mail. Ultimately, they were unsuccessful – the Honor Council completely cleared my name and the article as the truth. The events of the past 72 hours seem like a rerun of that experience.

The truth is, no conservative could write for the Post without being subject to the gauntlet of the liberal attack machine. There is no question in my mind that any RedState contributor writing for this blog would have found leftists delving through his high school yearbooks and grade school book reports in an effort to discredit and defame him. And if you too were a sloppy teenage writer, your errors or the errors of others would’ve been exploded.

I have a great many friends who are willing to stand and defend me on this. I appreciate their support. I have enormous respect for Jim Brady and the vision he has at WPNI. But while the folks at washingtonpost.com understand my position and are convinced by my arguments on many of these issues, they also feel that the firestorm here will only serve to damage us all, and that there is no way this blog can continue without being permanently tagged to this firestorm. Therefore, I have resigned this position with washingtonpost.com.

This is a shame. As you all know, I am a conservative, but not a partisan – I believe had this blog been allowed to continue, it would have been a significant addition to the Post's site. The Post showed bravery by including a conservative voice, and I hope they continue to seek that balance. While my blog was only alive for a week, it did have one result that was encouraging. If the change of heart described here continues, it will all have been worth it.

To my friends: thank you for your support. To my enemies: I take enormous solace in the fact that you spent this week bashing me, instead of America.

Regards,

Ben

[Right Wing Professor]

Where's the college professor who should have been advising those college kids running and writing the college newspaper?

He's there to give advice and sign forms. He's not there to vet the content. That would be impossible.

[summer]

Maybe you drill it into students. I think my question above, about the MIA college newspaper professor/advisor, is a valid one.

[summer]

It's not impossible for adults to do their job. A college professor who is the faculty advisor at the college newspaper or college radio station has actual responsibilities beyond blindly signing budget forms. Ever hear of "teaching" at a college? Maybe you have; maybe others have not.

[summer]

Not only that -- but where's the professional Washington Post vetter in this hiring decision? Outside of academia adults have real jobs, too. Though you wouldn't know it from some adults.

[summer]

And, I think he wrote a good essay under enormous pressure. Maybe there is more to come; maybe not. I don't know.

[Right Wing Professor]

A college professor who is the faculty advisor at the college newspaper or college radio station has actual responsibilities beyond blindly signing budget forms

I'm faculty advisor to a couple of clubs; for a long time I was advisor to CR. I take it seriously, but it's not my role to police all their activities. If it were, they'd never get anyone to volunteer.

Our college newspaper is typically 8 - 12 pages, 5 days a week during the semester. You think an unpaid faculty volunteer can afford to fact-check every issue? It would be more than a full time job for one person.

[summer]

But this kid was asking a question about what he was doing. Surely a professor to a few clubs can be called upon to explain what is and is not an "inspired by" piece when a student is asking about it.

[Right Wing Professor]

But this kid was asking a question about what he was doing.

You actually buy his excuses? Good grief.

Surely a professor to a few clubs can be called upon to explain what is and is not an "inspired by" piece when a student is asking about it.

You actually think Mr. Domenech wasn't told, in grisly detail, what is and isn't plagiarism? Have you ever taken a college writing course, or worked at a newspaper, and not been told about this?

For the last 10 years I've maintained a web page on Martin Luther King's plagiarism. It's gotten me an incredible amount of abuse (though Michael Savage also mentions it on his radio show every so often, so that's kewl). But, having roasted a liberal icon for plagiairizing his writing, think I'm going to let a conservative flame-thrower off the hook for the same thing?

[Congressman Billybob]

Thank you very much. But I AM busy, just now. LOL.

Congressman Billybob

Latest article: "2nd Report on the Campaign for the NC 11th District"

[summer]

Maybe you are being way too hard on this college kid, and maybe I am being way too soft, and maybe the truth is somewhere in-between.

Or, maybe I'm right. I don't know his teachers or what he was taught or not taught. Or what he thought or didn't think.

But, to compare plagiarism of Martin Luther King, as you claim exists, with a college newspaper article written by a college student, who checked with his fellow college student editors, seems to me a comparison that is a bit off, to say the least.

[summer]

But here is something I do believe, which may go to the Doe Eye post: The Washington Post can surely fire any non-union employee it wants, for any reason or no reason, and their motives for firing could include, I would guess, public statements of its non-union employees.

However, it seems to me those public statements of a new employee should have been part of the interview process if they were so easily found by others so quickly.

And what I think the Washington Post had on its mind, more than doing its job in the interview and hiring process, was this: Its own bottom line.

That newspaper seems to me it was so eager to say: Hey, everyone, look at us! A newspaper with a YOUNG blogger on board! We're hip! We're cool! OTHER NEWSPAPERS MAY BE AT DEATH'S DOOR -- BUT NOT US! WE'RE THE TALK OF THE BLOGOSHPERE NOW!

In a way, it's the same motivation and overzealous attitude that led Arianna Huffington to recently get George Clooney on her blog even though she didn't actually get him to blog.

The Washington Post seems to have tossed out its usual procedures to get this young kid, too.

Maybe next time the Washington Post will spend more time looking at what is already out there before they hire. And if it doesn't matter, then tell people at the onset: We read this kid's college writings, and concluded he made some mistakes, but, he's now a political blogger and we're going to see where this new road goes.

But the Washington Post did not think to do that. The blogosphere did all the background checking that adults employed by the Post didn't. And, of course, as is characteristic of the blogosphere, added their own comments.

Maybe some of those comments were correct. But maybe not.

[summer]

Also see: Blogger Ben Domenech Strikes Back; Calls Post Editors 'Fools'

[summer]

Lots of interesting comments about this whole matter on The Washington Post Blog HERE. A number of readers want James Brady to resign for not doing his job at the onset here.

[summer]

Thanks for your post on that other thread.

Captain's Quarters is saying a movie review this conservative blogger plagiarized when he was 19 (not 17, like the other examples), is too much to ignore. And, I think it appeared in the National Review Online or somewhere like that.

The blogger claims he wrote this movie review before the other writer's review, but data bases state otherwise, according to the conservative blogger's accusers.

So, who knows. Or, who knew? It seems one strange movie review at 19 years old can ruin one's career at the Washington Post at age 24. I guess that's the brave new world we live in on the information superhighway. From the conservative blog, Captain's Quarters:

Ben doesn't explain everything, and just because the left-wing bloggers were out to get him doesn't make them incorrect. The Daily Kos shows a strange piece of cribbing, as Michelle Malkin wrote, that not only occurred later in Ben's career (2001) but also shows much more intent than just cut-and-paste amnesia:

Ben Domenech wrote:

Translucent and glowing, they ooze up from the ground and float through solid walls, splaying their tentacles and snapping their jaws, dripping a discomfiting acidic ooze. They're known as the Phantoms, otherworldly beings who, for three decades, have been literally sucking the life out of the earthlings of the human. They are swollen, insectoid, the nightmare descendents of Lovecraftian grotesque — if only the filmmakers had created a plot that was as memorable.

Steve Murray, writing for the Cox News Service, wrote:

Translucent and glowing, they ooze up from the ground and float through solid walls, wriggling countless tentacles and snapping their jaws. They're known as the Phantoms, alien thingies that, for three decades, have been sucking the life out of the earthlings of “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.” Swollen nightmares from a petri dish, they're the kind of grotesque whatsits horror writer H.P. Lovecraft would have kept as pets in his basement.

Ben was 19 (two years after his entanglement with the editors at his college newspaper) when these two articles appeared, and unless he wants to argue that Murray plagiarized Ben's work, I'd call that pretty damning. It's worse than dropping an unattributed quote into the review; he reworded Murray's imagery just enough to avoid an accusation that he lifted it word for word.

[infidel29]

...he reworded Murray's imagery just enough to avoid an accusation that he lifted it word for word.

I don't think he even did that much.

[Galveston Grl]

Way to go conservatives! I am so glad you all associated yourselves with the left's murderous looneys in attacking the ONLY conservative at the Washington Post.

[Tribune7]

And you kind of wonder why a major newspaper would be giving a 24-year-old of whatever outlook a column.

[summer]

Re your post #77 -- see my post #71.

[summer]

Thanks for your ping on that other thread.

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

No problem.

-good times, G.J.P. (Jr.)