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Conservatives Show 'Wash Post' Blogger The Door
By E&P Staff
Published: March 24, 2006 12:30 PM ET
NEW YORK A two-day effort by liberal bloggers to find, and publicize,
numerous examples of plagiarism committed by Washington Post blogger
Ben Domenech culminated today in calls that he give up his new
position--from some of his conservative supporters.
Hours later, he resigned his post.
One of his critics, most dramatically, was columnist and blogger
Michelle Malkin. As an editor at Regnery, Domenech handled her most
recent book.
Conservatives had hailed Domenech's appointment to write the Red
America blog. "I cheered for Ben, the editor of my last book at
Regnery, when he announced his new position," Malkin wrote on her Web
site today. "I criticized unhinged bloggers on the Left who leveled
vicious ad hominem attacks against him. It's clear, as the good folks
at Red State (which Ben co-founded) note, that his detractors were on
a search-and-destroy mission from the get-go.
"But now the determined moonbat hordes have exposed multiple instances
of what clearly appear to me to be blatant lifting of entire, unique
passages by Ben from other writers. 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--and
doing so repeatedly--is unacceptable in our business. Some of the
cases occurred while Ben was in college; he is blaming an editor for
these transgressions. But at least one other incident involved a piece
he wrote for NRO after he graduated. The side-by-side comparisons of
these extensive passages is damning.
"I certainly understand the impulse on the Right to rally around
Domenech. But I can't ignore the plain evidence. And the charges can't
be dismissed as 'lies' or jealousy attributed to Ben's age. As someone
who has worked in daily journalism for 14 years, I have a lot of
experience related to this horrible situation: I've had my work
plagiarized by shameless word and idea thiefs many times over the
years. I've also been baselessly accused of plagiarism by some of the
same leftists now attacking Ben.
"The bottom line is: I know it when I see it. And, painfully,
Domenech's detractors, are right. He should own up to it and step
down. Then, the Left should cease its sick gloating and leave him and
his family alone."
At the National Review's popular site, NRO Online, one of the
regulars, Stephen Spruiell, commented, "This is bad. Perhaps it is not
fatal, but we need explanations not just from Domenech, but also from
the Washington Post on how it plans to handle this." One of the
allegedly plagiarized articles appeared on NRO.
Conservative writer Rick Moran wrote today at The American Thinker
site that "what simply cannot be tolerated in any venue where the
written word is revered and opinions respected is plagiarism. And
according to material dug up by several lefty bloggers, the shocking
fact seems to be that Domenech is a word stealer of epic proportions,
someone who has lifted entire articles from other sources and claimed
the words and ideas as his own....
"With so many eloquent and able conservative writers, I'm sure the
Post will have no problem finding someone else to take over a blog
that should be espousing honesty and decency as the principles by
which we on the right live by.
"Anything short of that just won't do."
Domenech's resignation was announced Friday afternoon by Jim Brady,
executive editor of washingtonpost.com. This was his statement:
"In the past 24 hours, we learned of allegations that Ben Domenech
plagiarized material that appeared under his byline in various
publications prior to washingtonpost.com contracting with him to write
a blog that launched Tuesday.
"An investigation into these allegations was ongoing, and in the
interim, Domenech has resigned, effective immediately.
"When we hired Domenech, we were not aware of any allegations that he
had plagiarized any of his past writings. In any cases where
allegations such as these are made, we will continue to investigate
those charges thoroughly in order to maintain our journalistic integrity.
"Plagiarism is perhaps the most serious offense that a writer can
commit or be accused of. Washingtonpost.com will do everything in its
power to verify that its news and opinion content is sourced
completely and accurately at all times.
"We appreciate the speed and thoroughness with which our readers and
media outlets surfaced these allegations. Despite the turn this has
taken, we believe this event, among other things, testifies to the
positive and powerful role that the Internet can play in the the
practice of journalism.
"We also remain committed to representing a broad spectrum of ideas
and ideologies in our Opinions area."
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