Benny Johnson was fired from Buzzfeed last night for plagiarizing content from other web sites. In an apology posted earlier today, Johnson acknowledged improper attribution. For some, the apology did not go far enough:
@bennyjohnson not properly attributed. Not attributed at all…
— Hamid عبد الحميد سرحان (@hamid) July 26, 2014
https://twitter.com/TheFoodEconomy/status/493053495897903104
The most half assed apology from a guy the internet got fired. Thank you Saturday. Thank you @bennyjohnson
— Leple Flopert (@Lobsterboyy) July 26, 2014
@bennyjohnson "not properly attributed" Christ even when found out you're a coward
— Dok (@Dok845) July 26, 2014
@bennyjohnson Use of the passive voice is not an apology. "who were not properly attributed"
— William Owen (@Bill_Owen) July 26, 2014
A few defended Johnson:
https://twitter.com/coolhandschlute/status/493078183223119872
https://twitter.com/evan_van_ness/status/493057026247766017
This tweeter offered a partial defense:
@evan_van_ness I'm pretty tough when it comes to plagiarism, but much of the OurBadMedia stuff doesn't look like plagiarism to me.
— Kevin Whited (@PubliusTX) July 26, 2014
@evan_van_ness that said, SOME of the instances they cite do look very much like plagiarism to me – straight lifting of stuff w/o attrib.
— Kevin Whited (@PubliusTX) July 26, 2014
@evan_van_ness I'm sympathetic to idea that there are only so many ways one can write about facts.
— Kevin Whited (@PubliusTX) July 26, 2014
@evan_van_ness Also sympathetic to idea that we may not need to cite sources for commonly accepted facts (OurBadMedia goes crazy here)
— Kevin Whited (@PubliusTX) July 26, 2014
@Sbrangerfan I do think some of the examples amount to plagiarism — didn't mean to suggest otherwise. Room for debate on others, IMO.
— Kevin Whited (@PubliusTX) July 26, 2014
In a post explaining the decision to fire Johnson, Buzzfeed editor Ben Smith stated, “This plagiarism is a breach of our fundamental responsibility to be honest with you — in this case, about who wrote the words on our site.”
Buzzfeed’s responsibility to be honest with its readers has not stopped it from publishing dishonest stories about “hecklers” in Newtown, Connecticut, “rioters” at the University of Mississippi, and dumb “conservatives” who said they would move to Canada because of Obamacare.
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