[Speed Gibson,
Monday December 18, 2006 at 12:50am]
The Case of the Juvenile Journalist
Per Powerline, the Minneapolis Star Tribune has decided to take no action against Steve Berg, who "accidentally" plagiarized The New Yorker at least twice. In a flourish reminiscent of former Senate Majority Liar Dean Johnson, Berg published this statement (as quoted in Powerline):
First, there is no apology, to The New Yorker, to the readership, or to his employer. Even the shortest of apologies would have sufficed. It's the adult thing to do. But if there was one, the AP didn't report it.
Second, as with Editor Susan Albright's statement, Berg assumes that since it was (allegedly) unintentional, this excuses the repeated offenses. People suffer consequences for unintentional acts all of their lives. The acceptance of this "unfair!" reality is one of the ways we distinguish adults from children.
Third, implies that a fraction of one percent for plagiarism is a good score for a journalist. Like Americans in general, I don't have a particularly high opinion of journalistic ethics. But I do believe that most, as in 90% or more of journalists don't plagiarize at all. They may practice other forms of deceit as with second hand smoke and global warming, intentional or not, but they use their own words to do it. Only a child offers this "we all do it" excuse.
I'm not saying that these particular acts of plagiarism merit dismissal or even a reprimand. That's between Berg and his employer, though we as readers are free to react accordingly. It is this arrogant statement that should earn Steve Berg a one way summons to the Publisher's office.
"Reacting to a right-wing blog, the newspaper found unintentional insufficient attribution in a fraction of 1 percent of my work," Berg said. "I'll put that up against anybody."This is one remarkable statement.
First, there is no apology, to The New Yorker, to the readership, or to his employer. Even the shortest of apologies would have sufficed. It's the adult thing to do. But if there was one, the AP didn't report it.
Second, as with Editor Susan Albright's statement, Berg assumes that since it was (allegedly) unintentional, this excuses the repeated offenses. People suffer consequences for unintentional acts all of their lives. The acceptance of this "unfair!" reality is one of the ways we distinguish adults from children.
Third, implies that a fraction of one percent for plagiarism is a good score for a journalist. Like Americans in general, I don't have a particularly high opinion of journalistic ethics. But I do believe that most, as in 90% or more of journalists don't plagiarize at all. They may practice other forms of deceit as with second hand smoke and global warming, intentional or not, but they use their own words to do it. Only a child offers this "we all do it" excuse.
I'm not saying that these particular acts of plagiarism merit dismissal or even a reprimand. That's between Berg and his employer, though we as readers are free to react accordingly. It is this arrogant statement that should earn Steve Berg a one way summons to the Publisher's office.