The Ben Domenech plagiarism flameout

first:
Nick Sylvester: guilty of making things up
and
now:
Ben Domenech: guilty of plagiarism

Did they both miss "Ethics and Journalism" semester unit at Uni ?

http://www.bendomenech.com/blog/

(He's obviously had other things on his mind as well given the most recent post.)

He's 24, so I don't think he was around when you were...

His best-of 2000 list should answer that question rather definitively.

This album technically shouldn't make this list — it was released in late 1999 — but it's been at the top of the Billboard charts all year long. From Creed's spiritual lyrics and thunderous guitars to singer Scott Stapp's swaggering, Jim Morrison-like intensity, this band has grown and matured since its breakout 1997 album, My Own Prison. Grunge rock isn't dead — it just took a shower."

indeed ... res ipsa loquitur, y'all!

----

Red America Ends
By: Augustine · Section: Miscellania

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

---

A MESSAGE TO OUR READERS [The Editors]

As the previous links mention, at least one of the pieces Ben Domenech is accused of having plagiarized was a movie review for National Review Online. A side-by-side comparison to another review of the same film speaks for itself. There is no excuse for plagiarism and we apologize to our readers and to Steve Murray of the Cox News Service from whose piece the language was lifted. With some evidence of possible problems with other pieces, we're also looking into other articles he wrote for NRO.

Anyway:

http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2006/03/23/PH2006032301992.jpg

"Why is everyone always picking on me?"

Someone who has always been desperate to know what the love child of Andrew McCarthy and James Spader would look like?

Nah, that combination just doesn't have that expected N./Alba-style allure that Nicole loves so.

"I'd like to say a few words to you all before those evil liberal black Nazis over there come kill me. Haha, joke!"

More like an ashamed bathroom blow-job encounter sort of way.

At long last I have a perfect visual for the Sugarcubes' "Fucking in Rhythm and Sorrow."

i'm so tired of being lectured about personal responsibility by these creeps. not that this is news, but there's something really profoundly damaged and damaging about a social and economic system that promotes people like this to the top of heap.

still:

t/s: jonah goldberg vs this guy

Redstate Reaction to Ben's Resignation
By: Clayton · Section: Miscellania

The server logs tell us that many of you are coming here looking for the Redstate reaction to Ben's resignation from the Washington Post. And no doubt you want to know what his status with Redstate is, and 'where we go' from here.

The left has their blood today. Ben resigned from the WashingtonPost.com. He did not resign from RedState - and even if he tried to do so, we would have refused to accept it. The four Directors of this site, including Ben, had a call earlier today shortly after he spoke with the Post and we're happy that Ben's staying right here.

We are disappointed in the turn of events, yes. We are also disappointed in some of our allies in their rush to judgement. But, alas, we live and die by the speed of the Internet. As I said yesterday, the conservative movement is larger than me, you, Ben, Redstate, or any individual or group.

bloooooooooooooooooood

http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2006/03/23/PH2006032301992.jpg

Look at my button down striped shirt! Fucking look at it! This shirt means one thing! I’m coming home with some pussy tonight!

"Plagiarism isn't illegal."
"Research only delays the urgently needed dissemination of THE TRUTH."
"The Constitution provides safeguards for plagiarists."
"OUR NATION IS AT WAR."

Solid-colored shirts
Ultrafine striped/checked shirts

Anything else with a blazer = you must be killed.

(And yeah, I misused "thine," sorry.)

Talk about moral relativism.

i know! how many of these guys have to get caught out before that sinks in? rush limbaugh, bill bennett, ralph reed, etc. etc. (i know, it's not about "sinking in," it's just about having power. still, the fucking gall.)

I mean, what kind of argument is that: Liberals found evidence of journalistic misconduct, BUT THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE GONE LOOKING! Insane.

haha, otm. they're biased!

"When the dust settles, I wonder if the left will be just as interested in cleaning the plagiarists out of its ranks. I assume the left won't gloat until Biden is gone."

The way Biden babbled in the recent judicial confirmation hearings I think many on the Left would happily gloat if he was gone (and I do not think the "Left" excused his plagiarism back in '88). And of course "sensible mom" seems to know how much control the left has over non-truthtelling politicians!

not only was it not excused, it killed any chance he had of ever being the Democratic presidential nominee (in 1988 OR 2008). and yeah, not a few dems (myself included) would happily waive bye-bye to senator citibank.

vs.

"No, officer, I didn't try to steal that necklace in my pocket -- the store clerk put it there!"

“While I appreciated the opportunity to go and join the Washington Post,” Domenech said, “if they didn’t expect the leftists were going to come after me with their sharpened knives, then they were fools.”

Those darned editors!

Meanwhile, say what you want about Malkin, she states this clearly in her latest update to the earlier post:

Ben's statement up at Red State (there is no explanation of the apparent cribbing in the NRO piece)***

And indeed nothing appears in that other piece I just linked.

I note in the comments to the RedState response post that there are a lot of people noting the sin of omission re the NRO movie review, so I don't think he did himself much good in the end.

Hi --

This all seems to have happened really fast. I hadn't really checked the news til midday today when I saw all of this happened. It might be kind of moot now, but I was Domenech's editor at The Flat Hat when he was writing the reviews. Four people, including me, would have handled his copy, the others being my assistant section editor, the managing editor and the editor.

This should seem obvious, but no one on the editorial staff was going into Salon (or wherever) and pasting whole sections into his reviews. We were more concerned about getting the paper done so we could get home at 2 in the morning instead of 5. We may have put additional words in the story, but it would never have been completely foreign content. It was just editing.

also worth noting that students at most college papers take their jobs seriously, and plagiarism will get your ass bounced off a college paper just as fast as off any professional paper.

Malkin: "It is one thing to paraphrase basic facts from a wire story. But to filch the original thoughts and distinctly crafted phrases of a writer without crediting him/her [...] is unacceptable in our business."

And yet:

( via http://johnlombard.blogspot.com/2006/01/michelle-malkin-plagiarist.html )

ABC News:

"We perhaps could have avoided so many of these fatalities with the right body armor," said Clinton, who recently wrote letters to Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services Committee; Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee; and Francis J. Harvey, secretary of the Army, calling for an investigation into why troops were not being protected.

And Malkin's column:

"We perhaps could have avoided so many of these fatalities with the right body armor," concluded Brigadier General Clinton, who immediately dashed off letters to Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services Committee; Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee; and Francis J. Harvey, secretary of the Army. Smarter-than-thou Clinton is, of course, demanding an investigation (highly recommended by image consultants to boost one's pro-military posturing).

Ultimately if this turns into a massive right vs. left 'who plagiarized where' flamewar I'm kinda all for it.

I mean the real story here is what it exemplifies -- right wing pundits can't think for themselves, even when it comes to reviewing hollywood movies.

They deserve each other.. Where do these dudes hang out in DC now that Abramoff's restaurant is closed? I want to go see if they're really real.

Eisbär OTM about Joe Biden. the guy is still unelectable as president, and I can't tell you how many references I've read to that plagiarism incident - and I only read the liberal blogs. they don't like him very much.

I busted a student for plagiarizing yesterday. I forced her to wear a Ben Domenech cut-out mask.

ME 2. I lost patience w/that epic Nikki $ilve$tre thread did anyone suss out his motivation? BTW some of the right/wing defenses of BD resemble the pro-NS stuff (or excuses) on that ILM thread...

"BRING EM ON!!"

You don't get his sense of humor!

http://raggedthots.blogspot.com/2006/03/pretty-hate-machine.html

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/006598.php

It's been reported that he did this prompted by a bet and a belly full of liquor, yet it still tempts me to think he's an empty vessel of a man.

http://mk23.image.pbase.com/u42/orangecones/small/27675547.foghorn9.jpg

“I can’t defend it. It’s a fuckin’ disaster.”

ahh, i don't usually post on ile but my blog's fubar today. gotta vent somewhere.

full disclosure: domenech and i emailed a couple times before his flameout -- he seemed like a decent guy who wrote and thought like a total douchebag, but that's everyone in washington media

The Critical is a quarterly journal of political, topical, and cultural commentary on the important issues of the day gathered from some of the best writers online. It is available for purchase as a digital download or as a perfect-bound printed journal. Buy the first issue of The Critical here!

Here’s what we realized: the weakness of writing on the internet - in blogs and elsewhere - is the inherent lack of permanence. Sure, you can find good writing if you look for it. But the truth is, the overwhelming number of people who should be reading this excellent writing don’t even know that it exists.

But what if there were a quarterly publication that collected some of the very worthy writing from bloggers and internet writers?

For a blogger, The Critical is an excellent way to highlight the best writing online - and if gives you something to hand to people, which is a lot more impressive than directing people to a website archive. For everyone else, it’s designed for someone who ought to be reading blogs for more than just up-to-date news, but doesn’t know where to start.

Thank you for visiting The Critical Online. Stay tuned, as there’s more to come!

Copyright McSweeney's. Oh wait...

so one of the courses I'm teaching here is coordinated by another lecturer. all the course materials for the students is compiled/distributed by that lecturer. trouble is, a cursory google search reveals that nearly all of the material has just been c/p'd from various english writing help sites around the web. is this plagiarism? or academic fair use? (he doesn't give any acknowledgements whatsoever in the packet)

I admit to being disappointed to learn that your lecturer isn't Domenich.

hah, this was the only plagiarism related thread on ILE I could find. :>

Wow, this puts you in a tight spot, doesn't it? If you blow the whistle on the other lecturer, you're the villain in the department. If a student or anyone else outside the department discovers it, you could be considered guilty by association even though you're not.

If you blow the whistle on the other lecturer, you're the villain in the department.

This is not necessarily so. One could play the faux-innocent and merely ask the department head whether or not this interesting fact that you just discovered, i.e. that the course coordinator failed to credit his internet sources, ought to be considered as anything more than a quibble, so you could understand these types of situations better if they arise in the future.

Yeah, I should have said "could be". Treat the whole situation as the minefield it is, though.

Danger UXB.

yeah I'm not looking to stir the pot here or anything. just frustrated with the poor quality of the teaching materials which I've been given.

oh the ironing: the material for the next three weeks focuses on paraphrasing, apa style, and how not to plagiarize

I can basically put quotation marks around almost anything in this packet, punch it into google, and get a precise, specific hit which will lead me to the source.