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Yes, Trump pick Monica Crowley has a plagiarism problem
Hot Air.com ^ | January 8, 2017 | JAZZ SHAW

Posted on 01/08/2017 2:53:03 PM PST by Kaslin

Monica Crowley was recently tapped as Donald Trump’s selection to be the Senior Director of Strategic Communications on the National Security Council. Unfortunately for her, former Buzzfeed researcher (now with CNN) Andrew Kaczynski has been digging into her 2012 best seller, What The (Bleep) Just Happened and has turned up multiple instances of obvious plagiarism. Crowley is a long time Fox News host and conservative columnist, so she was no neophyte when it comes to the rules of the road for journalists and authors. Trump is calling this essentially a political hit job, but it’s definitely a problem. (CNN)

Conservative author and television personality Monica Crowley, whom Donald Trump has tapped for a top national security communications role, plagiarized large sections of her 2012 book, a CNN KFile review has found.

The review of Crowley’s June 2012 book, “What The (Bleep) Just Happened,” found upwards of 50 examples of plagiarism from numerous sources, including the copying with minor changes of news articles, other columnists, think tanks, and Wikipedia. The New York Times bestseller, published by the HarperCollins imprint Broadside Books, contains no notes or bibliography.

Crowley did not return a request for comment. Multiple requests for comment by phone and email over the past two days to HarperCollins went unreturned.

Crowley, a syndicated radio host, columnist, and, until recently, a Fox News contributor, will serve as Trump’s senior director of strategic communications for the National Security Council.

So is it a “politically motivated attack” as the Trump transition team is saying? Well… this didn’t come out of the Democrats’ oppo files. Kaczynski made his bones in the political news world by specializing in digging through the archives of political figures and dredging up their past to hold in contrast against what they say in the present. Now he’s apparently turning those talents to the field of uncovering plagiarism.

One might argue that the position Crowley is heading toward isn’t really an editorial or publishing job, so what’s the big deal, right? Perhaps those of us who cover these stories are a bit more sensitive than the citizenry at large, but man… it is a big deal. Anyone who writes for a living knows that plagiarizing the work of others is pretty much held on the same level as a war crime. For writers, it’s just about the worst thing you can do. Steven Taylor at Outside the Beltway explains why Crowley, given her background, should have known better.

The link contains the evidence, which is thorough and damning. It is also of a type quite familiar to me after years of teaching and dealing with this kind of thing: the change of a word here and there by the author, as if that is enough to make the words and thoughts original. Really, to me, it is just evidence of knowing theft: the attempt to subtly doctor paragraphs in the hopes that there will be enough change for others not to notice or to create some kind of plausible deniability.

She has a Ph.D. in International Relations from Columbia and she has been a published columnist for decades. She knows exactly what she is doing.

That’s all true. But we also have to ask ourselves if this High Crime among writers is, or even should be enough to sink Crowley for this new job. She’s not going to be an author or editor at the National Security Council. Being willing to commit plagiarism speaks to one’s character to be sure, but it doesn’t always sink people, even in journalism and cable news. Mike Barnicle’s employers at the Boston Globe once demanded his resignation over multiple plagiarism charges and he’d previously been accused of the crime by folks including Mike Royko. Still, you’ll find him on Morning Joe almost every day being introduced as “legendary” by the crew, so people have risen up to new careers after such charges in the past.

At the end of the day, however, the rest of the world doesn’t treat plagiarism as the same sort of High Crime that we do. And it probably won’t sink Crowley on her way to an NSC post.

monicacrowley


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: confirmation; crowley; monicacrowley; nominees; nsa; plagiarism; trump; trumpcabinet; trumptransition
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To: Kaslin
plagiarized large sections of her 2012 book

Don't they mean undocumented quotes?

61 posted on 01/08/2017 4:12:47 PM PST by TheDon (BO must be replaced immediately for the good of the nation and the world!)
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To: ChocChipCookie

I agree. Where was the editor?


62 posted on 01/08/2017 4:13:03 PM PST by Jane Austen (Neo-cons are liberal Democrats who love illegal aliens and war.)
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To: Kaslin

So did Joe Biteme, and it doesn’t seem to have mattered.


63 posted on 01/08/2017 4:14:40 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (President Trump is coming, and the rule of law is coming with him.)
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To: Kaslin
iThenticate's Barrie: "we caught the speechwriter for Hillary Clinton plagiarizing"
KCRA | 6:30 p.m. newscast, July 6, 2006 | KCRA (NBC Sacramento)

Posted on 07/11/2006 10:13:59 PM PDT by StAnDeliver

Anchor: "And with us now is the president and CEO of the firm [John Barrie] called iThenticate. Thank you for being with us tonight..."

Q: "When the Post asks you to go after Ann Coulter, did you know what were you getting into there?"

Barrie: "Well, this is what happened. The Post came to us originally and they were doing a story about how Oprah Winfrey was using our technology to screen things for her show. And the Post wanted to see an example of how our technology worked. So they took a 2005 speech from Hillary Clinton and ran it through our service. And right off the bat, we caught the speechwriter for Hillary Clinton plagiarizing. And the journalist from the Post said what else can we run through your service? And a couple weeks later as the brouhaha about Ann Coulter and what she said about the 9-11 widows was reaching its peak, the New York Post called me back and said Ann Coulter's book "Godless" is what we want to run through your system. They digitized the book and took one year of her syndicated columns and sent it over to us to analyze."

Q: "What did you find?"

Barrie: "And we found as I mentioned, found some textbook cases of plagiarism in both her syndicated columns and in the book. And after finding about three or four instances in the book and three or four instances in the column, I said look, I just had enough of reading Ann Coulter and the Post said 'That's enough for us. There's our story.' And case proven I guess."



64 posted on 01/08/2017 4:17:54 PM PST by StAnDeliver (Prosecute the win. Run up the score.)
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To: Kaslin

Forger soetoro plagiarized his birth certificate.


65 posted on 01/08/2017 4:23:18 PM PST by biggredd1
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To: Ann Archy

I don’t believe that position requires any hearings or approvals by congresscritters. It is an appointment pure and simple.


66 posted on 01/08/2017 4:27:51 PM PST by pfflier
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To: cba123

Citing your sources is the proper method. If you do that you are allowed short review quotations. The question is AP and Wikipedia ? Who really cares. Lol. At any rate, citing sources is usually done to enhance the validity of the information you are presenting.


67 posted on 01/08/2017 4:29:47 PM PST by justa-hairyape (The user name is sarcastic. Although at times it may not appear that way.)
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To: Kaslin

When will plagiarist Doris Kearns Goodwin disappear from PBS and other fifth-column leftist media shows?


68 posted on 01/08/2017 4:38:14 PM PST by Carl Vehse
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To: babble-on
What do you mean you “don’t believe” it? I can see saying that it’s not that serious, but what is there that’s not to believe?

I will not believe it until I have access to a Lexisnexis platform to search for the actual occurrences of each instance to see how many times the "so called reference" had appeared earlier without attribution of the actual source. There are only set number of ways to say "the sky is blue." If I write that and it was already written by someone else...... pfft.

69 posted on 01/08/2017 4:40:56 PM PST by higgmeister ( In the Shadow of The Big Chicken! - vote Trump 2016)
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To: Kaslin
There is no excuse for plagiarism.

That said, some on the left seem to get away with it.

Mister Biden was, IIRC, an enthusiastic and unrepentant plagiarist.

Another revered plagiarist was Alex Haley. To wit-- Because as Haley himself was forced to acknowledge, a large section of his book - including the plot, main character and scores of whole passages - was lifted from "The African," a 1967 novel by white author Hal Courlander

Source: http://www.nypost.com/cgi-bin/printfriendly.pl

70 posted on 01/08/2017 4:42:17 PM PST by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never...except for convictions of honour and good sense. W. Churchill)
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To: Kaslin

Let’s equal the playing field. We need to eliminate the MLK holiday for the same reason we are vilifying Crowley.


71 posted on 01/08/2017 4:44:05 PM PST by vetvetdoug
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To: doug from upland

“Love Monica, but if this is all true it is not good.”

I agree - can’t be outraged when “their” side does it and start making excuses when “our” side gets caught.

Plagiarism is essentially theft of another person’s words and it is not okay. Citations are not a difficult thing to include.

Harper Collins should have caught this long before publication, and if the story is correct as reported, she should withdraw her name from consideration.


72 posted on 01/08/2017 4:46:11 PM PST by VikingMom (I may not know what the future holds but I know Who holds the future!)
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To: Kaslin

Remember Biden plagerized that left-wing UK politican (Neil Kinnock?).


73 posted on 01/08/2017 4:47:12 PM PST by Hulka
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To: jazminerose

If it is in fact plagiarism, it is.not just theft of the original writer’s words, thoughts and research. It is a fraud on her readers and on the publisher who paid her. I will would like to hear Monica’s explanation. What I have seen so far disturbs me every bit as much a Amy Schumer ripping off other comedians’ jokes.


74 posted on 01/08/2017 4:56:25 PM PST by Atticus
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To: Kaslin

This plagiarist is applauded by the media and Democrats (but I repeat myself). And this boob is a heartbeat away from seizing power in the Oval Office. So don't try and make me upset that a comm director might have committed plagiarism.

75 posted on 01/08/2017 5:01:02 PM PST by SoFloFreeper (Isaiah 25:8)
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To: Kaslin
Apparently they have different standards for Monica than they had for Blatant Plagiarizer Biden.

Joker Joe has been caught red-handed twice in his life for plagiarizing. Once in law school in a paper, I believe, and once as a candidate in a speech.

Looking at the side-by-side comparisons CNN presents, the information is similar but the sentence and paragraph constructions are different enough that a reasonable person wouldn't call it plagiarizing.

This is coming from CNN, not known for being truthful themselves nowadays. They have both a liberal agenda and propensity for creating and pushing fake news.

Geez, if they had vetted Obama and Biden like they are trying to do here, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in now.

76 posted on 01/08/2017 5:02:20 PM PST by HotHunt
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To: Cold War Veteran - Submarines

Im afraid she is guilty,sad but true.


77 posted on 01/08/2017 5:06:13 PM PST by rodguy911 (Go Sarah go! America: home of the free because of the brave.)
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To: Red Steel

Seems like the only thing some of these outlets hate more than a dem is a true conservative winning the presidency.

And yes, from his picks, Trump has shown to be quite conservative.

The NYC facade is gone. I’ve had to put it up sometimes during interviews myself in Manhattan.


78 posted on 01/08/2017 5:06:37 PM PST by dp0622 (The only thing an upper crust conservative hates more than a liberal is a middle class conservative)
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To: Seaplaner

Plagiarist Doris Kearns Goodwin appears as guest on Meet The Press, by #fakenews outlet NBC.

Anyone in the media reporting on THAT, wondering WHY in the WORLD would NBC have a plagiarist on their panel?!

79 posted on 01/08/2017 5:06:54 PM PST by SoFloFreeper (Isaiah 25:8)
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To: Kaslin

I swear that Trump’s people must read this blog. We have been touting her for a long time!! God Bless You, Donald! And Monica!!


80 posted on 01/08/2017 5:07:58 PM PST by SgtHooper (If you remember the 60's, YOU WEREN'T THERE!)
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