Johann Hari: left-wing commentator in plagiarism row
A celebrated left wing commentator's career is in the balance after an Internet campaign forced him to admit recycling quotes in his interviews.
Johann Hari was exposed after a reader noticed that a quote in one of his stories had been cut and pasted from a book. Photo: EYEVINE
Johann Hari, a multiple award winning political journalist who writes for newspapers around the world, was exposed after a reader noticed that a quote in one of his stories had been cut and pasted from a book.
Such was the controversy that he was forced to respond in a personal blog, but his defence only further fuelled the intensity of the attacks against him.
Within 24 hours the discovery had sparked a massive backlash as other examples of his alleged plagiarism were uncovered.
On Twitter, the micro-blogging website, users posted a series of jokes in which famous sayings in history were re-created as if Mr Hari had been told them in intimate interviews, while blogs from rival journalists accusing him of so-called "churnalism".
At one point his alleged plagiarism was the second most discussed topic on Twitter and even became the subject of a doctored clip from Downfall, a film about Adolf Hitler's final hours.
2011-07-25
Johann Hari: left-wing commentator in plagiarism row - Telegraph
via telegraph.co.uk
