Olbermann wondered whether Coulter attacked Jayson Blair for plagiarism; she did
SUMMARY: Discussing charges of plagiarism against Ann Coulter, Keith Olbermann wondered whether Coulter had attacked former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, who resigned from the Times amid allegations that he fabricated facts and committed plagiarism. A Media Matters for America review produced several examples of Coulter attacking Blair for plagiarism and repeatedly invoking the disgraced reporter to attack the Times and score conservative political points.
Discussing charges of plagiarism against right-wing pundit Ann Coulter on the July 5 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann asked John Barrie, the creator of the iThenticate plagiarism-probing system, whether while "[g]oing through the material" in Coulter's most recent book, Godless: The Church of Liberalism (Crown Forum, June 2006), or any of Coulter's columns, Barrie "s[aw] anything in there by her" about former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, who resigned from the Times amid allegations that he fabricated facts and lifted others' work without attribution. Barrie recalled that he had read "a little bit about what Ann Coulter had to say about Jayson Blair and, from my understanding, she pretty much skewered Mr. Blair for what he did back at The New York Times." Indeed, a Media Matters for America review produced examples of Coulter attacking Blair for plagiarism and repeatedly invoking the disgraced reporter to attack the Times and score conservative political points.
As the New York Post reported on July 2, Barrie "claimed he found at least three instances of what he calls 'textbook plagiarism' " in Godless, as well as "verbatim lifts in Coulter's weekly column," after running the text through his iThenticate system. According to the weblog TPM Muckraker, "Barrie confirmed that Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes Coulter's columns to over 100 newspapers around the country, called him twice yesterday," and that "they want to review a copy of Barrie's 'report' before making a comment."
A Media Matters review found several examples of Coulter blasting Blair for having engaged in plagiarism when news of Blair's misdeeds became public in May 2003:
- "The New York Times is to be commended for ferreting out Jayson Blair, the reporter recently discovered making up facts, plagiarizing other news organizations and lying about nonexistent trips and interviews. A newspaper that employs Maureen Dowd can't have had an easy time settling on Blair as the scapegoat. Blair's record of inaccuracies, lies and distortions made him a candidate for either immediate dismissal or his own regular column on the op-ed page." [column, 5/15/03]
- "In the current Newsweek magazine, Seth Mnookin reports that Blair was forced to resign from the student newspaper at the University of Maryland, The Diamondback, for precisely the same misconduct he engaged in at the Times -- phony reporting, plagiarism, irresponsibility and fantastic lies. Once known as 'the Newspaper of Record,' the Times is now trying out the motto: 'Almost as Accurate as the Maryland Diamondback.' " [column, 5/22/03]
- From a discussion with co-host
Alan Colmes on the May 14, 2003,
edition of Fox News' Hannity
& Colmes:
COLMES: It's an ugly time at the paper of record. The New York Times reporter Jayson Blair resigned earlier this month after allegations surfaced that he had plagiarized or fabricated parts of dozens of articles over several years of reporting on some of the country's most important stories.
[...]
COULTER: They [the Times], as I was saying, had a self-investigation. They say there was just one bad apple. And you know, it didn't work with Enron; it didn't work with Merrill Lynch; it's not going to work with The New York Times.
COLMES: You put The New York Times in the same category as Enron?
COULTER: It's mismanagement, yes.
[...]
COULTER: This sort of thing happens a lot, not a lot, but there are occasional incidents of it. What is striking here is that over and over again, when he was caught, when editors were sending a note saying, we've got to get rid of him, right now immediately, it was Howell Raines, a few others, who kept not only -- not just -- you know -- keeping him there and keeping him on a tight leash but promoting him, putting him on the front page, sending him letters of commendation.
Now, it used to be that this was -- The New York Times was the paper of record in a genuine way, hateful and biased though it may be. One thing it had was its reputation for accuracy. It has completely abandoned that in pursuit of having, you know, one more black working at The Times.
In addition, Coulter has repeatedly invoked Blair in recent years to attack the Times. Some examples include:
- "[L]iberals claimed [former Talon News Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent Jeff] Gannon was a White House plant who received a press pass so that he could ask softball questions -- a perk reserved for New York Times reporters during the Clinton years. Their proof was that while 'real' journalists (like Jayson Blair) were being denied press passes, Gannon had one, even though he writes for a Web site that no one has ever heard of -- but still big enough to be a target of liberal hatred!" [column, 2/23/05; see Media Matters item here]
- "Within hours of the [Bush National Guard] documents being posted on CBS' Web site, moderately observant fourth-graders across America noticed that the alleged early '70s National Guard documents were the product of Microsoft Word. If that wasn't bad enough, The New York Times spent the following week hailing [former CBS News anchor Dan] Rather for his 'journalistic coup' in obtaining the documents that no other newsman had (other than Jayson Blair)." [column, 9/15/04]
- "[Times] Columnist Bob Herbert sneered of [Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice's nomination in the New York Times: 'Competence has never been highly regarded by the fantasists of the George W. Bush administration.' For example, these are the bumbling nitwits who conquered Afghanistan, the 'graveyard of empires,' and toppled Baghdad in less time than your average Jennifer Lopez marriage lasts. (Wait, I can't remember: Was it the Bush administration that hired Jayson Blair?)" [column, 12/8/04]
- "Amid a solid stream of bad news, the New York Times reported on its own poll -- showing [Sen. John] Kerry [D-MA] 8 points behind [President] Bush -- in an article titled: 'Bush Opens Lead Despite Unease Voiced in Survey.' The Times bases its 'unease' conclusion on some secret documents recently given to them by [retired Texas Air National Guard officer] Bill Burkett. This would seem to go against the 80 percent likeability rating among Bush supporters I cited previously -- but hey, it's good to see Jayson Blair working again." [column, 9/29/04]
Did he conduct stories on Blair in 2003? How about on Doris Kearns Goodwin. Not defending the hateful Ann but again Olbermann comes across as a partisan hack.
At least Donahue would get right to the point.
you're just doing your usual Olbermann bashing, which is all good. We're all entitled to our opinions. But really J what is about this very affable guy that annoys you so? I have never heard one Olbermann utterance that could be remotely equated to anything Savage, Coulter, or Bill O’rielly has ever said. Sure to my great delight he goes after the right wing punditry but I’ve never heard him bash the regular guy Republicans or conservatives in the global way that right wing pundits attack all Democrats and Progressives with their generic use of the terms Liberals and democrats. They don’t just go after prominent Progressive politicos they bash, smear, and defame ME and I have no platform to sock them back. All I can do is turn off the tube or vicariously enjoy when Olbermann nails them. Olbermann has never called Republicans traitors, Godless, advocated violence against them, or asserted that they are mentally ill. Comparing what Olbermann does to anything these guys do is like comparing a butter knife to a nuclear warhead. Even if you don’t like what he does any rational person can clearly see the distinction between him and the popular right wing talking heads.
I guess I want someone who is not doing something just to improve his ratings. When this guy was working for MSNBC in the past he did the show on Monica which bashed Clinton. He suddenly had a reawakening? I am not at all assured he serves progreesives in the way MMFA tries to sell it.
I do find Odd Ball very funny however.
One other thing, I will continue to criticize him, but I actually watch him and would watch him any day over OLielly.
We don't want someone who "serves progreesives [sic]". We want someone who speaks the truth, to power or otherwise, whomever that power is at the time.
Clinton deserved the ridicule he got for his embarrassing situation. He didn't deserve to be impeached, but he certainly should have been ashamed.
Lastly, if Olbermann was after ratings, he certainly wouldn't be spouting progressive points. Progressives have lives that entail a lot of time away from the boob tube.
for the Kiethster? I understand. I remember when he used to work for ESPN, he ruffled some feathers over there.
If so, we need more like him. The MSM is awash with Republican hacks, and the Jason Blair story got plenty of attention, even if Olbermann totally ignored it, which I doubt.
The problem is that the few "liberal" journalists surviving are trying to be honest and impartial; unfortunately, their Right Wing counterparts labor under no such restrictions.
JLyon has a crush on Olbermann. I think he got to speak to Keith once but JLyon immediately puked on his shoes. So sad.
I think J accepts the double standard that exists for the Progressives and Conservatives in the media. It’s the only way I can understand the continual lumping of Olbermann with Mike Savage and Ann Coulter that she does. If I were to compare Olbermann to anybody, his closest counterpart would be Joe Scarborough. As Conservatives go I find Joe for the most part at least palatable, he is conservative but not a crazed ideologue like so many of his colleagues. His conservative bias comes through sometimes although it may not be intentional. I’ve never seen Joe be intentionally insulting to Democrats and Progressives. There is no comparison of the Olbermann show to the variety of right wing nut shows on the air. And as you say, Olbermann is the closest thing we have to airing a Progressive point of view, but I don't find Keith to be an in your face Liberal ideologue. If he were they wouldn't give him a show. No such standard exists for wingers however, it's anything goes. I view his show as somewhat left leaning but honest and rational. Moreover, I think his on air feuding with O’rielly is not politically motivated and is probably done more to entertain himself. It’s has to be fun smacking the comically puffed-up overbearing blow hard.
Lets agree on one thing:
Odd Ball is great isnt it?
my least favorite part of the show.
in time I may come around.
Olbermann isn't being accused of plagiarism, Coulter is. He's pointing out Coulter's hypocrisy by asking whether or not she'd made comments about Blair.
Just a question. I don't recall when he left and got his own show. And another thing: the Blair issue was more of a NYT disgrace issue than a political pundit issue, therefore one could understand why Keith wouldn't bother.
On March 31 , 2003.
Maybe my dislike of Olberman stems from the fact that the last true progressive was replaced and was silenced.
Phil was the one against the war and the NBC morons silenced him.
That makes a hell of a lot of sense....if you're looney. Thanks for the peek into your crazy psyche.
While I have my own suspicion as to your point, perhaps you could be more direct with jlyon without the vitriol. You've launched a couple of rather vague, personal attacks on jlyon in this thread. Jlyon's post was at least direct, even if his reasoning for disliking Olbermann may be odd or suspicious.
Im used to Scott Johnson attacking me everytime I say anything about KO. I am a grown woman I can take it and handle it quite well.
JLyon throws Olbermann's name around the way the right uses the name Clinton. It's a boogeyman divorced completely from fact. I borders on insanity, hence my "looney" comment. If I offended other mentally ill people, I apologize.
Definition of Freudian Slip: When you say one thing and mean your mother. In JLyon's case all paths somehow lead to Olbermann, whom she describes as a "hate monger".
Before that, your posts regarding jlyon were appearing to me as I suppose jlyon's posts regarding olbermann appear to you. Hmmm...
Oh...my apologies to jlyon for referring to her as a him (above).
But not necessary, I am a her , its hard to tell what people are.
Thanks for the lively discussion!!
These boys do play hard ball don't they.
I love how she refers to the Enron scandal as "mismanagement" as opposed to the balatant fraud and theft that it was.
Stealing millions for workers is more than mismanagement.
To me, the NYT did more damage to itself with regards to the whole Judy Miller fiasco. Whether it was willing or unwilling, being mouthpiece for administration lies and misinformation..
I just hope they learned their lesson. I mean, did Jayson Blair ever have any headline reports in the NYT? or was he more of a feature/investigative reporter? The really nasty and offensive thing with regards to Blair was the right-wing pundits using it to decry affirmative action etc...
As for plagarists, I guess Coulter would know from experience...
Jayson Blair made up quotes and invented entire interviews and K.O. wants compare this to Coulter? All they have on Coulter are some reworded paragraphs, some so basic they sound like dictionary definitions. The iParadigms geek (which they did not reveal his political persuasion) sounds just a little too anxious to label someone.
The New York Post, Media Matters and K.O. better be prepared for what is sure to happen next.
Into the UNIVAC goes every word they ever wrote.
Copme on, Blair was lazy but atleast lifted actual facts from other people for pete's sake. Anne, if she did plagarize, and for the record I don't care because she can't any lower in my eyes, she did it out of laziness and blind hatred. Either one is a loser, both of them can go to hell.
All they have on Coulter are some reworded paragraphs, some so basic they sound like dictionary definitions.
That's utterly laughable, since some strings were copied verbatim, not even one word reworded. Also, the dictionary definition excuse doesn't fly because (1) it's irrelevant and (2) even a definition should be attibuted to the source dictionary.
The iParadigms geek (which they did not reveal his political persuasion) sounds just a little too anxious to label someone.
Of course, his political affliation and motivation have nothing to do with the veracity of his claim, nor the claims of plagiarism by others.
The New York Post, Media Matters and K.O. better be prepared for what is sure to happen next. Into the UNIVAC goes every word they ever wrote.
I guess if you can't argue, just threaten eh? What a coward.
KO wasn't comparing Coulter to Blair; he was wondering whether she hypocritically criticized Blair for plagiarising when she is a plagiarist herself. And she did. Surprise!
And please look up a definition of plagiarism before you pronounce on what does or does not constitute it. Perhaps check Cornell or the U. of Michigan's websites, since that's where Coulter should have learned it.
Faulty paraphrasing, where a writer changes a word or two of the original source (with or without proper attribution), is plagiarism. Period. This issue is addressed in virtually every university's student code of academic conduct.
Plagiarism is not simply lifting entire passages from another writer and passing them off as one's own. Plagiarism takes many forms, and from the examples I've seen, Coulter has definitely committed acts of plagiarism. Her offenses may not be as egregious as some we've seen, but they are plagiarism nonetheless. She is also guilty of intellectual sloth, which is almost as damning as intellectual theft.
Coulter knows better. If she doesn't, she should give back her degrees, get her ass back in school, and PAY ATTENTION this time around.