Johann Hari admits copying and pasting interview quotes

[killer b]

I disagree. Given time (Hari's still young) he could be another Pilger.

i guess at least he'll try writing his own stuff from now on. that's bound to bring him on as a writer.

 

[Bakunin]

OK.

Let's see you do better.

It's a simple matter of journalistic ethics. He plagiarised other people's work and didn't credit it to them as he should have done. He attributed those made-up quotes to people when they didn't actually say them. He misled the readership. He basically falsified parts of a number of his published pieces and passed them off as journalistic fact.

One of the worst and most looked down on practices in writing is plagiarism. One of the worst practices in journalism is falsifying parts of a published story. One of the things that journalists are specifically told NOT to do while they're training is exactly what Hari has been caught doing and it isn't simply a one-off error of judgement either. So what does he expect as a response? He knowingly and deliberately played fast and loose with journalistic tradition and best practice and was caught doing it, so he can hardly expect a Pulitzer for doing something that, had it been done by a cub reporter, would have resulted not only in their being immediately fired from wherever they worked, but also would have ruined any chance of a freelance career for the foreseeable future as well.

He broke the rules. He was caught. He'll be called to account for it. Simple.

Simply because he previously did some decent work doesn't entitle him, in any way, to fabricate parts of his output as and when he feels like it.

 

[TruXta]

I disagree. Gioven time (hari's still young) he could be another Pilger.

I sincerely doubt it. Time will tell I suppose but nothing he's done so far has particularly impressed me. That link butchers put up earlier about his trip to Iraq kinda put paid to any such notions. The man's a wannabe.

 

[Meltingpot]

Not a word on Hari's behaviour from meltingpot, not a single comment on the Negri article that sparked this off - nothing. But who is she to judge someone like Hari i suppose.

Yeah, I know I post like a girl, you've told me so before...

I'll swallow that one though, there's more important things to worry about.

 

[past caring]

I disagree. Given time (Hari's still young) he could be another Pilger.

Forget the plagarism - he'd need to learn to write first. Fuck's sake. I could be another Karl Marx, yeah - I'm only 48.

 

[Meltingpot]

I am Mother Theresa reincarnated so do one you mug cunt.

I have my faults but I'm the last person you could call (s)mug.

 

[frogwoman]

It's like that South Korean scientist who claimed to have cloned a dog, once his research got found out to be fraudulent it cast doubt , and a shadow, on everything he had done in his career. EVERYTHING.

 

[TruXta]

It's like that South Korean scientist who claimed to have cloned a dog, once his research got found out to be fraudulent it cast doubt , and a shadow, on everything he had done in his career. EVERYTHING.

Which is entirely as it should be. Everything he's written ought to be scrutinized, and he should offer an apology to everyone whose work he's ripped off.

 

[Meltingpot]

It's a simple matter of journalistic ethics. He plagiarised other people's work and didn't credit it to them as he should have done. He attributed those made-up quotes to people when they didn't actually say them. He misled the readership. He basically falsified parts of a number of his published pieces and passed them off as journalistic fact.

One of the worst and most looked down on practices in writing is plagiarism. One of the worst practices in journalism is falsifying parts of a published story. One of the things that journalists are specifically told NOT to do while they're training is exactly what Hari has been caught doing and it isn't simply a one-off error of judgement either. So what does he expect as a response? He knowingly and deliberately played fast and loose with journalistic tradition and best practice and was caught doing it, so he can hardly expect a Pulitzer for doing something that, had it been done by a cub reporter, would have resulted not only in their being immediately fired from wherever they worked, but also would have ruined any chance of a freelance career for the foreseeable future as well.

He broke the rules. He was caught. He'll be called to account for it. Simple.

Simply because he previously did some decent work doesn't entitle him, in any way, to fabricate parts of his output as and when he feels like it.

OK, this is what he says in response to that. I think it's a fair response.

http://www.johannhari.com/2011/06/29/my-response-to-yesterdays-allegations

 

[past caring]

It's like that South Korean scientist who claimed to have cloned a dog, once his research got found out to be fraudulent it cast doubt , and a shadow, on everything he had done in his career. EVERYTHING.

Trying to solve the world food shortage?

 

[frogwoman]

Which is entirely as it should be. Everything he's written ought to be scrutinized, and he should offer an apology to everyone whose work he's ripped off.

yes.

 

[redsquirrel]

OK, this is what he says in response to that. I think it's a fair response.

http://www.johannhari.com/2011/06/29...ys-allegations

No it's not, it's self-serving bollocks and you are a total mug for buying it.

You going address the Negri issue now or keep skipping around it.

 

[TruXta]

OK, this is what he says in response to that. I think it's a fair response.

http://www.johannhari.com/2011/06/29/my-response-to-yesterdays-allegations

How is it not plagiarism when he's "borrowed" the words of fellow journalists without crediting them, much less asking for permission? Come on, this is elementary stuff.

 

[butchersapron]

I bet young Johann (32) can feel the future at his back now. Never fuck with the autonomists - they always get their man.

 

[gawkrodger]

OK, this is what he says in response to that. I think it's a fair response.

http://www.johannhari.com/2011/06/29/my-response-to-yesterdays-allegations

Have you looked at the Negri article?

What has happend to your critical reasoning?

 

[Bakunin]

OK, this is what he says in response to that. I think it's a fair response.

http://www.johannhari.com/2011/06/29/my-response-to-yesterdays-allegations

I've read that, and I don't have much faith in it if I'm honest. No editor would touch my work with a bargepole if I was exposed as having done what Hari has done, irrespective of whether or not there was a shitstorm about my having done it. When an editor accepts your work then they trust your credibility and ethics and risk the credibility of their own publication if you're then caught committing what remains a cardinal sin for journalists at any level. I don't see why Hari should be given a free pass when he's been caught doing something that would get many journalists fired and many freelancers effectively blacklisted simply because he's a well-known writer. It doesn't matter whether you're some big-league columnist or a part-time freelancer, what Hari has done is simply not on and, having been caught blatantly doing it, then he has to accept the resulting flak that goes with it.

He broke the rules, He got caught. He should accept the consequences of his having been caught. And that goes for any reporter at any level, not just Hari.

 

[gawkrodger]

INever fuck with the autonomists - they always get their man.

that should be a t-shirt!

 

[revol68]

OK.

Let's see you do better.

I would hazard that over 60% of those on urban's politics boards could do far better than that slug Johann Hari, if given some basic journalistic training, a wage and an expenses account with the Independent.

For a start we'd be able to understand (or atleast attempt to) Negri's "Empire" which puts us ahead of Hari who despite a double first from oxford couldn't even grasp the basics.

The fact is that a lot of us on these boards spend more time reading up on our shit than Hari and we also take the time to post our opinion in our own words for free, as opposed to that little slug.

And of course most of us didn't cheerlead the invasion of Iraq.

Hari is a cunt.

 

[phildwyer]

IAnd Hari's better than most journalists out there. A lot better.

You have a point, and it's true that this case isn't really all that egregious. But he lost all my sympathy, permanently, when he supported the invasion of Iraq. I don't care how often he apologizes, he's not coming back from that in my estimation.

 

[Meltingpot]

No it's not, it's self-serving bollocks and you are a total mug for buying it.

You going address the Negri issue now or keep skipping around it.

Sure. Yes, he should acknowledge Negri if he ripped him off (and apologise). But Hari's writing is aimed at political and other semi-illiterates like me. Negri's isn't.

 

[revol68]

I bet young Johann (32) can feel the future at his back now. Never fuck with the autonomists - they always get their man.

In the spirit of Hari I've taken that for my facebook status.

 

[butchersapron]

Sure. Yes, he should acknowledge Negri if he ripped him off (and apologise). But Hari's writing is aimed at political and other semi-illiterates like me. Negri's isn't.

You don't even know what this is about do you?

 

[strummerville]

Oh come on, it's making the little twitter tories come all over their keyboards. Go and see Toby toadmeister fuckface or Guido fucking Fawkes or whatever he's called to see them jizzing as they write yet another oh so funny hashtag... Almost every low rent journo has done what Hari's done and the hypocrisy and self righteousness is pathetic from those scumbags. Fucksake Toby Young's made a career out of how he bullshitted and blagged his way through it. Yes he's been naive but this is a witchunt that has been driven by the right wing bloggers 100%.

 

[frogwoman]

No it isn't.

 

[killer b]

this is a witchunt that has been driven by the right wing bloggers 100%.

i'd say it's only about 20% right wing bloggers tbh.

hari is well-hated by people from all over the political spectrum.

 

[redsquirrel]

Sure. Yes, he should acknowledge Negri if he ripped him off (and apologise). But Hari's writing is aimed at political and other semi-illiterates like me. Negri's isn't.

Fuck, just like your hero you don't have the first clue what we're talking about and can't even be bothered to read up on it.
You utter bluffing prat.

 

[killer b]

also, there's been plenty of flak from people previously sympathetic.

seriously, he's a disgrace. the fact that some other writers are also a disgrace doesn't let him off the hook.

 

[revol68]

Oh come on, it's making the little twitter tories come all over their keyboards. Go and see Toby toadmeister fuckface or Guido fucking Fawkes or whatever he's called to see them jizzing as they write yet another oh so funny hashtag... Almost every low rent journo has done what Hari's done and the hypocrisy and self righteousness is pathetic from those scumbags. Fucksake Toby Young's made a career out of how he bullshitted and blagged his way through it. Yes he's been naive but this is a witchunt that has been driven by the right wing bloggers 100%.

This maybe all true but as butchersapron said to me with a wry smile as we shared a coffee and surveyed a now familiar Greek vista of black masks and tear gas, "They didn't fuck with autonomists, they always get their man"

 

[Bakunin]

I bet penny is shitting it right now. I suspect she's next.

IIRC, she's already been subject to accusations of falsifying some of her reportage. At the porn SHAFTA Awards, IIRC.

E2A: Yep, she claimed to have had a conversation with porn director Anna Span, who stated quite clearly that she didn't even attend the SHAFTA Awards. It's a tad difficult to have a conversation with someone who isn't even at the same event, I'd have thought.

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/laurie-penny/2011/03/porn-industry-sex-hannah

 

[butchersapron]

...and another one