via blogger Dan Kennedy
>>I asked him to comment on the accuracy of a recent Free Republic article by Howie Carr, a conservative Boston radio talk-show host who contributes columns to the Boston Herald. Carr wrote that sources told him the author of the editorial is Globe columnist and Pulitzer winner Joan Vennochi. His story also said Vennochi was suspended for two weeks.
(The Globe’s) Canellos declined to identify the author or detail the punishment, if any.
[for the record the article was on Howie’s email list. I posted it on FR. He told listeners Venocchi was the culprit, according to his sources, and advised listeners to check out the article on his email list or “get your friends on the list to forward it to you”)-—RR]
>>Vennochi did not respond to a phone message left earlier this week. Her most recent column was published August 23, according to her online archive, and she hasnt tweeted since August 20. If she is the writer and her column disappears for a reported two weeks, shouldnt Globe readers be told why? Shouldnt they also be made aware that the paper is holding someone accountable for a breach of its policies?
on Kennedy’s blog:
http://dankennedy.net/2012/09/04/poynter-weighs-in-on-globes-lifted-editorial/
>>As I wrote on Aug. 24, the editors note raised as many questions as it answered, since it did not reveal the identity of the person who wrote it or whether he or she had been disciplined.
Last week, as you may have heard, Boston Herald columnist and WRKO Radio (AM 680) talk-show host Howie Carr sent a dispatch to subscribers to his email list claiming he had learned the culprit was Globe columnist Joan Vennochi, and that she had been suspended for two weeks. The email ended up being posted to the Free Republic, a right-wing website.
Oddly, though, that information has not appeared in the Herald, which instead ran a story on the Globes decision not to name names.
Kennedy continues:
>>It strikes me that this would have been a one-day story if the Globe had simply announced who did it, whether that person had been disciplined and, if so, what the punishment was. The borrowing from Domkes piece looks to me more like extreme sloppiness than classic plagiarism.And yes, I understand that such matters are confidential at most companies. But if this had been a signed column rather than an anonymous editorial, naming person would have been unavoidable. I dont see why it should be handled differently simply because the piece did not carry a byline.
The press doesn't seem to hold themselves to the same standard of responsibility they hold others to... well, hold conservatives to... something like that. And while we're talking - what's with the Poynter Institute? They're commenting on a lack of openness while they own a newspaper that does NOT HAVE ONE CONSERVATIVE on staff? And there's NEVER a mention of that fact? Anywhere - ever?