New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd is in hot water for lifting a paragraph from a blog written by Talking Points Memo founder Josh Marshall without attributing the source.
(NEWSCOM/FILE)Photos (1 of 1)
A “plagiarized” account of Maureen Dowd’s plagiarism
By Jimmy Orr | 05.18.09
To better illustrate a point or a thought when writing a column, article, or blog it goes without saying that it’s commonplace and perfectly acceptable to quote someone or some source.
Almost 100 percent of the time, for example, someone else’s words will be a big improvement over anything that we can muster up on this blog.
So that’s how we’ll tell the story of New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd’s attribution malfunction (but just to be wacky, we’ll attribute the sources).
Caution
It is an axiom of the new digital media age that high-profile political columnists should generally avoid copying other people’s words without attribution. Nobody wants to have the p-word hung around their necks.
It is a further axiom of the age that if a columnist is to borrow a paragraph unattributed, then at least they should ensure it doesn’t belong to Josh Marshall. The man behind Talking Points Memo is one of the sharpest, most deadly bloggers around. [The Guardian]
Oops
Maureen Dowd, whose barbed-worded columns for The New York Times never have lacked for original thoughts about the Bush administration, has admitted to some borrowed words. She reports that it was inadvertent. [The Swamp]
In the original column, Dowd wrote: “More and more the timeline is raising the question of why, if the torture was to prevent terrorist attacks, it seemed to happen mainly during the period when the Bush crowd was looking for what was essentially political information to justify the invasion of Iraq.”
Marshall last week wrote virtually the same sentence. But where Dowd’s column used the phrase “the Bush crowd was,” Marshall used “we were.” [Associated Press]
Accidental
Dowd claims this was an accident, and that she got the idea for the material in question while chatting with a friend.
Yes, it’s odd that her “friend” recalled Marshall’s article verbatim, but that’s Dowd’s story and she’s sticking to it. No one ever accused the gal of lacking moxie. [Huffington Post]
Odd
But that raised other issues about whether it’s common practice for Dowd to use entire passages from friends in her column without attribution. And when I sent a follow-up email about this to Dowd, she didn’t respond. …
So I put the question of whether this is common practice for columnists before Times editorial page editor Andy Rosenthal, who passed me along to PR. But now I’ve now received a statement supporting Dowd from spokesperson Diane McNulty:
“Maureen had us correct the column online as soon as the error was brought to her attention, adding in the sourcing to Marshall’s blog. We ran a correction in today’s paper, referring readers to the correct version online.
“There is no need to do anything further since there is no allegation, hint or anything else from Marshall that this was anything but an error. It was corrected. Journalists often use feeds from other staff journalists, free-lancers, stringers, a whole range of people. And from friends. Anyone with even the most passing acquaintance with Maureen’s work knows that she is happy and eager to give people credit.” [Politico]
Credit
But that bit about Dowd being “happy and eager to give people credit” caught my eye, because just moments earlier, I read Tucker Carlson’s comments during a Washington Post online discussion: [Media Matters]
“[T]he whole thing is an interesting window into how her column is created. I knew someone once who was on her call rotation. Every week, she’d call and collect amusing lines from him, which she’d invariably use without attribution. Every writer does this to some extent — I’ve made a lot of money over the years stealing from my conversations with Matt Labash — but she seems to do it more than most.” [Washington Post]
Hypocrisy?
What Dowd didn’t know was that her friend was posturing, presenting Marshall’s argument as if it were an original thought. So when Dowd lifted what she thought were her friend’s words, she was actually re-stealing something. But because this is Dowd, the high liberal priestess of biting political criticism, the woman who excoriated Joe Biden for plagiarism, her crime is further stained by an air of hypocrisy.
Thus, she is busted and will be virtually eviscerated by her enemies. And it was all so avoidable. [Poynter]
This just in…
VP Joe “Oh, No” Biden rushed to the aid of beleaguered NY Times Columnist Maureen Down today after she admitted she lifted a few paragraphs from a Blogger for use in her column….without attribution.
Biden, who himself is no stranger to plagiarism, was quick to come to the columnist’s aid. ” Hey, it happens to the best of us. We see something we like, and I often think, wow, why didn’t I think to say that….and so I either do say it , or write about it a few times….and then I forget that I never really did have an original thought! ”
“Hey man, it’s an odds game…how many times have I been caught…2-3 times…..do you know how many times I’e taken credit for other peoples ideas?
“Come on, get in the 21st century…everybody does it, it is a game after all, isn’t it? And besides, do you know how many hits I get on Google when I say something really clever that I stole? Get over it!” [The Spoof] (NOTE: The source of the last four paragraphs came from a site called The Spoof.)
——-
Hey, we’ll never spoof you (maybe Joe Biden…but not you), so follow us on Twitter!
<< Did Nancy Pelosi lie? New poll shows Americans are divided. | MainComments
2. mark troutman | 05.18.09
As long as a liberal is slamming Bush all is forgiven by the press. Imagine what the press would be doing if William F Buckly had made the same mistake ( fraud I believe it’s called.) She knows full well how the game is supposed to be played but in this day and age there are no rules.
4. Tim B | 05.18.09
The fact that Maureen Dowd and Peggy Noonan continue to enjoy gainful employment is all the proof necessary to see why the newspaper industry is circling the drain. It’s long past time to restore media ownership limits.
5. Hans Gruber | 05.18.09
MM… is in it funny? That the closer we look at the “winners” and top personas of this world- it seems that they use plagiarism, corruption, insider trading and general scoundreling behavior to be the successful? Mm..but then, they tell us to make sure we follow all the rules- maybe.. is because then do not want more competion at the top.
6. Izrayle | 05.18.09
It just goes to show, that liberals, in their groupthink and mob mentality, actually have no original thoughts, they repeat, like robots, a mantra that will eventually get picked up by someone with the means to propagandize it!
Maureen Dowd and Arianna Huffington are both intellectual rip-off artists with no journalistic integrity or intelligence for that matter!
They can continue to use the “I heard it from a friend” line as long as they want, but we KNOW who their friends are (Bin Laden, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, and Ahmedinejad) I will go ahead and throw in our soon to be departed obese lush Kennedy as well!
8. George | 05.18.09
As a journalist, it is very easy to see how this could happen. I believe her story — that her source, in a phone conversation, probably read directly from the blog without Maureen realizing it. She is smart enough not to lift a sentence from a blog herself without attribution. Why would she need to? Of course, Fox News will drag her through the mud for this for the next 20 weeks or so.
9. wts | 05.18.09
This would not be an issue if Dowd had been writing about soybean futures. However, because she is a left leaning critic, this mole hill is made mountainous. It was one sentence, a couple of words were changed from the original, and Dowd corrected it as soon as it was brought to her attention. It was an error, no big deal, let’s move on to something more signficant. There are plenty of serious subjects to debate.
10. bcamarda | 05.18.09
As a writer, if I’m drawing on someone else’s material, here’s how I avoid plagiarism: when I cut and paste content from a web site, I immediately format that text in red, put the word “BORROWED” at the beginning, and insert the source. That way there’s no way I can screw up and leave it in as my own words. I’m always surprised when writers who are at the top of their profession don’t have some kind of personal system that does the same job.
If they’re that careless, they ought to at least run their stuff through one of the college anti-plagiarism sites before they submit to their editors. Bet Ms. Dowd wishes she had.
One silver lining: NY Times readers are being turned on to the fact that Marshall’s been a far more worthwhile read than Dowd lately.
11. Mike T. | 05.18.09
She, like the rest of her ilk, bewails others while she lives by a different set of standards. So what else is new?
12. Chris T | 05.18.09
Tim B…
you are so correct. all we ever hear is how the media cant compete with free electronic news and i’m sure there’s some validity to that.
but, the real problem for news outlets like the NYT isnt so much online competition, it’s competition that has superior news content. how about some straightup news?!?!
everyone has an opinion and dowd’s opinion is no better or more enlightening than my dog’s opinion. and my dog’s opinion isnt lifted from someone else.
13. Kurt | 05.18.09
It is my humble opinion that the fact that Maureen Dowd and Peggy Noonan continue to enjoy gainful employment is all the proof necessary to see why the newspaper industry is circling the drain. It’s long past time to restore media ownership limits.
15. Grant | 05.18.09
No excuses, she screwed up and should apologize. BUT, the woman writes more in a week than a normal person does in a year and this is ONE example. To say that it is impossible this was an honest error is ridiculous. Find a pattern and I’ll be the first to call for her head, but until then, GET OVER IT!
By the way, I would say the same for William F Buckly or any other author.
16. Derek | 05.18.09
Bubba:
“Torture” is singular, I believe.
if the torture was…
if the tortures were…
17. Tip O’Hat | 05.18.09
Wow. Poster #6 want to “…throw in our soon to be departed obese lush Kennedy.” The fact that the human race can sometimes turn out people like “Izrayle” — people who can think and talk that way — might be a cause for heartsink. But, ultimately, no. Ultimately, most of us get a little queasy when we encounter it. And that’s cause for hope — and, indeed, cause for pride in the good things we can be.
19. Rebel Rouser | 05.18.09
“Heard it from a friend who, Heard it from a friend who, Heard it from another you’ve been stealing my blogs. Borrowed from REO Speedwagon! Rock and Roll never forgets! Borrowed from Bob Seger! Its getting to the point with so many words, names, slogans, catch phrases, mantras, sayings and manifestos being copyrighted, its going to be hard to even speak the spoken word never mind print it without attributing content to some other entity.
Look what they’ve done to my language(song), Ma. Attributed to Melanie Safka. This country is going to **** in a bucket, but everyone seems content to sit back and enjoy the ride! Attributed to Grateful Dead and Rebel Rouser
20. Ward Kelly | 05.18.09
Who reads M. Dowd? I don’t read her. For that matter, I actually don’t know anyone that reads M. Dowd. In fact, I stopped reading the NYT altogether over ten years ago. If I wanted to read the likes of the NYT or a daily version of Mother Jones or Harpers ….I could just go online and read the Huffington Post or Moveon.org.
M. Dowd and the NYT? Give me a break. Who cares if they plagiarized? I would be more worried if a reporter from The Onion plagiarized.
There is a reason that the WSJ is the only major daily to have a net increase in subscriptions over the last 12 months.
21. Bill Anthony | 05.18.09
Perhaps the cost of sniffing out plagiarism exceeds the benefits?
And would footnotes in popular editorial writing, that is not intended to be academic or scientific writing, make for very entertaining reading?
22. John Fitzgerald | 05.18.09
Is this this the only instance of this happening or does she have a history of it. It is a large leap to conclude that it’s blatant plagerism without some evidence of it being a chronic problem. Could it be, just possibly, with all the columnists writing about the same subjects 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, that sooner of later one sentence is going to match another? You don’t suppose that sometimes, $%^@ just happens, do you?
23. Woodsywizz | 05.18.09
Joe Biden always credited Mr. Neal Kinnock for the phrase he often used in his speeches. Then, on one occasion only, he forgot. The next time he spoke he again credited Mr. Kinnock as was his rule.
One accidental ommission, and Dowd went bat-[crazy]. Now people still call Vice President Biden a plagiarist, which he is not and never has been.
Ms. Dowd deserves a public excoriation. When placed in the stocks, her neck-placard should read: “Take a gander at this saucy goose!”
24. Bachmann/Palin Overdrive | 05.18.09
ZOMG i cant believe Biden said that no relly i can cause he is such a plagarizor so i’m not surprised relly, but him and Dowd should be more careful, cause liek my friend was saying yesterday, he who steals my purse steals trash, ’twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands, but he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed, and i was like OMG Britney that is so true.
25. DCC | 05.18.09
B. George wrote: “As a journalist, it is very easy to see how this could happen. I believe her story — that her source, in a phone conversation, probably read directly from the blog without Maureen realizing it. She is smart enough not to lift a sentence from a blog herself without attribution.”
What total garbage! So she stole from her phone source without attribution thinking she wouldn’t be caught? Apparently, there are NO journalists with integrity anymore, including B. George.
26. Edith Orenstein | 05.19.09
I found this article very valuable in that it provides a plethora of cites to other commentator’s insights, particularly the cites to Tucker Carlson’s claim that Dowd had a call rotation in which she informally, if not formally, received insights or humorous lines and that she may have used some of that material without attribution. Although we do not know the specifics as to how literally Dowd quoted people in her alleged call rotation, and, importantly, whether those people specifically or generally requested to speak only on background and not for attribution, this raises a thorny question of when a writer’s ‘thought farming’ as Kelly McBride refers to it in the Poynter article you cite becomes wholesale re-planting.
As a blogger, I am sensitive to the need to cite sources, and as a member of the professional and social media community, in which sharing information is valued and expected, I also know what its like to experience, as Yogi Berra coined, ‘deja vu all over again,’ where I sense that something I have written on a breaking news item (in the field of accounting, auditing and securities law) which has not been widely written about with the particular angle, depth, or sources I have cited, is then written about in another place. This returns to the thorny question cited earlier, as to when someone is ‘advancing the story’ broken by someone else (and if they give proper attribution or acknowledgement), and when someone is simply writing on an issue in the public domain.
A third, perhaps more blurry issue, (which may not rise to the level of ‘ethics’ but may simply be a question of common if not professional courtesy) is to be on the receiving end of a call rotation, particularly when other writers call or email you seeking referrals to other expert sources - which is flattering, but becomes frustrating (absent a request to be off the record or not cited) particularly when it becomes a repeated pattern and does not result in any cite back even of a general nature, such as an acknowledgement for a contribution of some sort, either to one’s organization or oneself; again, absent an express or understood agreement as to going off-the-record. On balance, its a question of balancing the pros and cons of the professional relationship; are you always the caller, or the callee, do you believe the caller is giving sufficient credit to the callee where credit is due, etc.
One final observation on your article: I wish you would have ended it before “This Just In” which, in providing a lengthy ’spoof’ of our Vice President, I think watered down an otherwise excellent article.
27. Write Thinking | 05.19.09
It is important for those of us in the conservative movement to follow the example of Ward Kelly — stay away from reading Maureen Dowd, the NYT or any other writer with whom we disagree. It is equally important to follow his example of limiting our circle of friends and acquaintances to those similarly inclined. This protects us from the danger of ever having a new idea.
28. Originalist | 05.19.09
She should be fired and never be allowed to work in the media again. But as long as it bashed President Bush, it is OK and she will continue to be at the forefront. Typical democrat hypocrisy and cover up.
29. Poeboy | 05.19.09
When Barnacle was busted for pilfering words out of George Carlin’s book, he ended up with a job on a daily cableshow. When Doris Kearns Goodwin was caught redhanded plagiarizing vast quantities of material for her Lincoln bio-book, sales when into the stratosphere. Maybe this is a career move for Madame Vitriol Dowd. When Pinch Sulzberger finally drives the Old Gray Lady into bankruptcy, MoDo can hire on as the polital commentator for one of the Networks. There are all kinds of left leaning loonies that would like to ogle MoDo in one her low cut sweaters on the Nightly News with Brian Williams.
30. infrequent writer | 05.19.09
For all who believe she got it fom a friend over the phone; the punctuation is verbatum. Isnt’t the subject matter a the form of a question? However both professional writers ended the question with a period. My take is; no phone conversation, just a cut and paste, and probably from her ghost writer.
31. Dianne | 05.19.09
Love this blog! Writing about plagiarism while attributing every paragraph. Big guffaws! Keep up the good work. She was caught out and will never do it again. The shame. I just missed the little music clip at the end.
32. jim h from LA | 05.19.09
Gee…. what a novel approach to journalism and advanced communication. A “Gotcha” moment, small closed minds can only process such minutia and not have to deal with the real and greater issues that we face. A sad and shameful commentary on the human race which appears that we are losing. An open mind once stretched will never revert back to its original size, someone else once said so as not to appear to plagiarize, it bears repeating.
34. Vishal | 05.19.09
It was mentioned the next day in a very public release that made it into the top pages of google news. She is a fantastic writer and I couldnt care less so long as people own up to their mistakes in a timely manner.
In an unrelated note, this is what made me like Newt Gingrich when he got into hot water in the 90s, but seeing him as a top Republican today is just pathetic.
35. fetterless | 05.19.09
Wilde: “I wish I’d said that.”
Whistler: “You will, Oscar, you will.”
(Wikipedia: wit)
36. Donna | 05.20.09
“ZOMG i cant believe Biden said that no relly i can cause he is such a plagarizor so i’m not surprised relly, but him and Dowd should be more careful, cause liek my friend was saying yesterday, he who steals my purse steals trash, ’twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands, but he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed, and i was like OMG Britney that is so true.”
24, your reading comprehension matches your writing. Joe Biden didn’t say anything of those things quoted in the article. It was a SPOOF and clearly labelled such.
37. Mingus | 05.20.09
As a journalist, I can appreciate that “plagiarism” can be one blurry eyed mis-click away during a late night, down and dirty edit. (Not that I’ve ever.) What’s odd is that this particular quote isn’t really so brilliant. Anyone could have said it over a coupe of drinks while thinking out loud.
I’m sure Dowd’ work is going to be scrutinized by the zero tolerance crowd on both sides of the political extreme (mostly folks who know nothing about the interior of a magazine or newspaper). If she’s a plagiarists a pattern will be revealed.
But I like Bcamarda’s method to avoid such pratfalls, hope he/she doesn’t mind if I barrow it…
38. alberto de la torre | 05.20.09
She will soon get her own show on MSNBC. She now has the proper credentials.
39. Bill Blask | 05.20.09
Izrayle, of all the formulaic responses, yours is a classic. The pot calling the kettle black. Let’s see: take what you and other Bush conservatives have been doing for eight years, turn it on its head, and accuse those who disagree with you of doing what you do. The act itself is pure Republican doublespeak.
Edith Orenstein’s point about “writing on an issue in the public domain” is interesting. When do we consider statements “public” and therefore usable without attribution to the original quoter? Without exception (?) anything spoken or written and published, and used verbatim must be attributed. Reusing a general idea from any source could be done without attribution, but is much more interesting with its source mentioned. Then we can investigate the original context and perhaps its history, giving greater richness to the idea.
40. Steve Edwards | 05.20.09
A Pulitzer Prize-winning liar and word thief.
Had Sarah Palin or one of the Clintons plagiarized a post word-for-word as Dowd did, Dowd and her pompous, arrogant bunch of followers would be screeching about it for years.
Instead, MoDo comes up with some laughingly ridiculous excuse about it being an ‘error’ because she never read JMM’s original post. Yeah, right. And because Marshall is just a lowly blogger compared to her Royal Highness, the New York Times Word Queen, it was not theft, just an ‘error.’ Sure.
MoDo = Jayson Blair redux.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Comment
We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published.
Tip: Do not write a novel. Keep it short. We will not publish lengthy comments. Come up with your own statements. This is not a place to cut and paste an email you received. If we recognize it as such, we won't post it.
Please do not post any comments that are commercial in nature or that violate copyrights.
Finally, we will not publish any comments that we regard as obscene, defamatory, or intended to incite violence.
Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
1. mightycpa | 05.18.09
So according to Poynter, Maureen Dowd is guilty of trafficing in stolen (intellectual) property. And then she took this stolen property and monetized it.
She’s no capitalist, that’s for sure.