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DailyDirt: Journalism FAIL

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Wed, Sep 26th 2012 5:00pm — Joyce Hung

While journalists are expected to follow a certain set of standards or code of ethics, that's not always the case. Every now and again, someone breaks the rules and gets away with it -- if only temporarily, since they usually get caught in the end. One famous example is former U.S. journalist Stephen Glass, who had fabricated many articles while he was working for the magazine The New Republic in the 1990s. (Apparently, he's now fighting for the right to practice law in California, after he was denied a license in 2007 on moral grounds.) Here are a few more examples of bad journalism.

Jonah Lehrer, who had blogged for Wired for several years and was recently hired (and then fired) by The New Yorker, reportedly fabricated quotes and recycled or outright plagiarized parts of articles. While Wired had initially agreed to keep Lehrer on as a features writer, after carefully examining a number of his posts, the magazine just recently decided to end its relationship with him due to his failure to "meet WIRED editorial standards" or to "follow basic good journalism practices." [url]
Ryan Holiday, marketing director at American Apparel, calls himself a "media manipulator." He wrote a book called "Trust Me, I'm Lying" on how to exploit the media by lying. Even worse, he used Help a Reporter Out (HARO) and pretended to be an expert on pretty much everything -- by lying, of course -- and managed to fool reporters from MSNBC, ABC News, CBS, The New York Times, and more. He claims it was all part of an experiment. [url]
Margaret Wente has been accused of plagiarism -- copying the words of another Canadian columnist for her own article in 2009 about genetically modified foods in Africa. She has responded to the allegations, but her employers have also disciplined her (without revealing the details of her punishment and obviously not firing her). [url]
Poynter.org has a wrap-up of the year's journalistic failings (so far) -- which it calls Journalism's Summer of Sin -- and it prescribes some measures for news organizations to prevent (and deal with) plagiarism and fabrication. The year isn't over, though, so place your bets on how many more journalistic fumbles will occur before 2013. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.

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Filed Under: ethics, haro, jonah lehrer, journalism, labvertisements, lying, margaret wente, plagiarism, ryan holiday, stephen glass

12 Comments

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Chris Brand (profile), 26 Sep 2012 @ 5:12pm

moral grounds ?
You can be denied a license to practice law in the US on moral grounds ?
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- Anonymous Coward, 26 Sep 2012 @ 5:20pm
  
  Re: moral grounds ?
  You can be denied a license to practice law in the US on moral grounds ?
  
  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Admission to the bar in the United States:
  
  Character and fitness
  
  In addition to the educational and bar examination requirements, most states also require an applicant to demonstrate good moral character.�.�.�.
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- Anonymous Coward, 26 Sep 2012 @ 5:20pm
  
  Re: moral grounds ?
  there's a better lawyer joke here somewhere...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Sep 2012 @ 5:18pm

Here is a rather truthful speech, which makes many points that folks around here make.

http://gadebate.un.org/sites/default/files/gastatements/67/IR_en.pdf

Take a look around on the MSM and tell me thre isn't a lot of yellow journalisim on the topic.
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Aaron T (profile), 26 Sep 2012 @ 5:21pm

Ryan Holiday...
is a bit of an interesting choice. Unlike the other examples, Ryan isn't a journalist- From what I gather, instead he took advantage of lazy journalists who pretty much failed to do any of their own research and fact checking.

Did he take advantage of them? Absolutely. Was it malicious at times? Almost certainly. And while I don't condone what he did, the fact that he was so wildly successful at it seems to indicate there is a bigger problem within the journalist community then just Ryan taking advantage of their trust.
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- Jay (profile), 26 Sep 2012 @ 6:26pm
  
  Re: Ryan Holiday...
  That's one of the reasons that so few people trust the media now. Too many lazy journalists that can't be bothered to follow up on stories. I blame the US' lack of enforcement of the FAIR act.
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- Anonymous Coward, 27 Sep 2012 @ 12:03am
  
  Re: Ryan Holiday...
  So you can view Ryan as the investigative reporter and a slew of his interlocutors as the accused.
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- Anonymous Coward, 27 Sep 2012 @ 12:03am
  
  Re: Ryan Holiday...
  So you can view Ryan as the investigative reporter and a slew of his interlocutors as the accused.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 27 Sep 2012 @ 12:03am
  
  Re: Ryan Holiday...
  So you can view Ryan as the investigative reporter and a slew of his interlocutors as the accused.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Sep 2012 @ 6:26pm

Still spamming Stumble Upon? Do you guys have no shame?
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Sep 2012 @ 12:00am

It's refreshing to read the word "plagiarism" -- with its negative connotations on copying -- in Techdirt. Much as I love the Dirt, this is like a peck of Cleopatra Sand in the mix.
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trish, 27 Sep 2012 @ 7:57am

apology?
I thought Ms. Wente's apology was pretty special. The last paragraph can be summarized as "I'm sorry I did what I did, but I'm more sorry people caught me and called me out on it".
I would copy paste this sorry section where she pretty much blames her troubles on everyone else, but ironically I am unable to copy the content.
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