UPDATE at end of post: Dowd's employing the famous "I heard it from a friend" defense.
On a regular basis, NewsBusters has warned readers of the infiltration into traditional media outlets content written by left-wing bloggers.
On Sunday, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd was accused of plagiarizing a piece posted a few days prior by Josh Marshall of the liberal website Talking Points Memo.
Dowd has now admitted her mistake.
As Marshall wrote Thursday (h/t Hot Air):
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 we were looking for what was essentially political information to justify the invasion of Iraq.
Dowd wrote before she got caught:
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.
As such, Dowd merely substituted "the Bush crowd was" for "we were." The rest is exactly the same.
Dowd's piece now reflects her admission:
Josh Marshall said in his blog: “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 we were looking for what was essentially political information to justify the invasion of Iraq.” [...]
An earlier version of this column failed to attribute a paragraph about the timeline for prisoner abuse to Josh Marshall’s blog at Talking Points Memo.
So, we not only have so-called journalists channeling nonsense from the liberal blogosphere, but now they're just cutting-and-pasting from it.
And newspaper owners wonder why their subscription rates continue to plummet.
*****Update: The story gets even funnier (h/t NBer iBlog):
Maureen Dowd has sent the NYTPicker this comment on today's accusation of plagiarism:
josh is right. I didn't read his blog last week, and didn't have any idea he had made that point until you informed me just now.
i was talking to a friend of mine Friday about what I was writing who suggested I make this point, expressing it in a cogent -- and I assumed spontaneous -- way and I wanted to weave the idea into my column.
but, clearly, my friend must have read josh marshall without mentioning that to me.
we're fixing it on the web, to give josh credit, and will include a note, as well as a formal correction tomorrow.
Exit question: what does the friend know, and when did [s]he know it?
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
POW! ....Right in the
May 17, 2009 - 19:20 ET by bigtimerPOW!
....Right in the Kisser!
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
BT
May 18, 2009 - 14:46 ET by DoktorFrankenPuh-Lease!!! Don't use the word 'kisser' on the same page as the picture of the aged, has-been, over dyed, bulbous-nosed, hooker reject - MoDoDo. I just had lunch in the past two hours!!
LOL Dok... You have my
May 18, 2009 - 14:57 ET by bigtimerLOL Dok...
You have my deepest apologies.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
Accepted!!
May 18, 2009 - 15:02 ET by DoktorFrankenJust as deep, too!
I forgot to mention how her NYT photo has been photoshopped.
I did not write that last sentence. I copied it from a NY Post blog.
;-)
Hey Dok
May 18, 2009 - 15:20 ET by bigtimerHey Dok Good-Humor-Man...
You're too much, as usaual you get me laughing with your endless wit.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
That's Odd
May 18, 2009 - 20:57 ET by DoktorFranken'' . . . your endless wit.''
My wife usually calls me a witless end (ass).
Spooky.
→ That's close, Dok
May 18, 2009 - 21:05 ET by Cool ArrowMy wife uses the term "zipless".
Should I be reading Erica Jong?
"I was fighting a war in Iraq!" - Nancy Lugosi
So Sorry to Hear
May 18, 2009 - 21:12 ET by DoktorFrankenAn Arrow with no ZIP is like . . . a feathery stick.
Our wives seem like very intuitive ladies.
→ Tru dat Dok
May 18, 2009 - 21:20 ET by Cool ArrowAnd a boomerang that won't return is just a stick.
"I was fighting a war in Iraq!" - Nancy Lugosi
Good Night Joe Biden Wherever You Are
May 17, 2009 - 19:32 ET by Edward CropperDoes this mean Maureen Dowd is qualified to be Vice President?
Exactly.
May 17, 2009 - 19:46 ET by Dan DiegoOf course MO substituted "the Bush crowd was" for "we were." as she considered herself part of Gore's WH press office in exile. You know, the REAL president.
no but...
May 18, 2009 - 06:53 ET by AJBProbably not, but if she can bake cookies, she's a fine looking woman and needs to get to the kitchen and bake me some PIE! Appears she can copy other's work and what is baking pie other than copying someone else's recipe?
amazing!
May 17, 2009 - 19:35 ET by iBlogcan I h/t myself for first posting this story in the forums?
ib
May 17, 2009 - 19:42 ET by Noel Sheppardib,
You just did...I think. Start sending them to our tips line rather than just in the forums. ns
Will do...
May 17, 2009 - 19:50 ET by iBlogThis is, allegedly, Dowd's response to the issue:
http://www.nytpick.c...
Wow,
May 17, 2009 - 19:42 ET by UpNorthshe may not yet be qualified to be the Vice President, but she's at least qualified to be a democrat Senator, maybe from Delaware? It's so much easier for the over-worked lefty writers to just cut and paste, rather than always having to come up with original thoughts. Wonder if this will get any play in the Lame Stream Media? Nah, what was I thinking?
"Failed to
May 17, 2009 - 19:47 ET by motherbelt"Failed to attribute"....the new euphemism for plagiarism.
I guess it should have also said "and failed to use quotation marks"......
It wasn't her fault....it was the column that "failed to attribute..."
Also, if she intended to attribute it, why did she change the word "we" to "the Bush crowd?" If one intends to quote someone, one doesn't change the words.
And they wonder why their credibility is circling the drain...
They might say "Wow, that sucks!" But at least they'll say "Wow!" -Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes
LOL
May 18, 2009 - 08:13 ET by danebramageHow about "cogent," the new euphemism for "verbatim?"
I mean, sheesh, even if she didn't intentionally plagiarize the blogger, she obviously plagiarized her friend. It's a word for word transcription. Interesting how she's trying to sidestep the main fact that she is not the actual brains behind her own bullshit.
As they say in the MSM
May 18, 2009 - 11:03 ET by Tom Paine"Some say" that Maureen Dowd is a thieving plagiarist...
Oh boy I want to be her friend...
May 17, 2009 - 19:54 ET by jdripperIf I became Mo's friend I could have her write "I am a mindless slut" in her column; minus the quotations of course.
Jack
"If at age 20 you are a conservative then you have no heart. If at age 30 you are a liberal then you have no brains." Sir Winston Churchill
I've quoted your post
May 17, 2009 - 20:08 ET by AtTheWaterCooleron Exposing Bias and Deception at New York Times which is part of a collection of articles published across the web on MSM bias.
Wow!
May 17, 2009 - 20:13 ET by obageegeeWow, lazy AND stupid!
Mo Do
May 17, 2009 - 20:14 ET by d1carterMo Do Go...................................away!
This is getting fun
May 17, 2009 - 20:18 ET by jdlybrandThey're eating their own.
"Exit question: what does
May 17, 2009 - 20:20 ET by BKeyser"Exit question: what does the friend know, and when did he know it?" (Noel Sheppard, Newsbusters)
Answer: He knew she was a hack, probably from the time he read her first column. (Bob, NB'er)
And- didn't I see this in a Family Circus (trademark, or copywrite, or something) cartoon years ago?
Me, Myself and I against the world....
May 17, 2009 - 20:25 ET by SkipperMLM"Friend" keeps getting everyone in trouble. I'm surprized VP Joe hasn't had him/her arrested.
Another Question?
May 17, 2009 - 20:30 ET by BKeyserWhich came first, this blog (Talking Points Memo) or the O'Reilly segment? (and does this guy really have a beef?)
Oh no! It's the Pelosi
May 17, 2009 - 20:32 ET by QueenMumOh no! It's the Pelosi flu.
GO CAVS!!!!!
"All the News That's Fit to
May 17, 2009 - 20:33 ET by winston smith"All the News That's Fit to Pinch"
"How many fingers am I
May 17, 2009 - 21:27 ET by Carl Kolchak"How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?"
Winston, now you just believe everything Dowd writes. She is a very valuable writer in this "society". Do no question her or what she writes. She did not plagiarize anything and all her thoughts are her own thinking. She talks about her friends. Winston, you make sure you're one of her "friends" or else you may need to go back to Room 101.
Signed
The Thought Police
Evening Carl... The
May 17, 2009 - 21:32 ET by bigtimerEvening Carl...
The Thought Police indeed.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
Hi bigtimer, just remember
May 17, 2009 - 22:27 ET by Carl KolchakHi bigtimer, just remember if the Records Department at the Ministry of Truth says there was no plagiarism, well then there never was any plagiarism and you make sure to remember that.
CK... Yes sir! Doubling down
May 17, 2009 - 22:30 ET by bigtimerCK...
Yes sir!
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
Too bad
May 17, 2009 - 20:35 ET by doug1950Well, there goes all that "gravitas" they are always harping about. I love it when they (the libs) get a buzz word or phrase for the week and wear the hell out of it on the wobbling head shows.
Wat a minute
May 17, 2009 - 20:36 ET by DelsaI thought the Left were allowed to Lie, Cheat, and Steal?
This won't matter to anyone but the guy she stole from. The people she lied to and cheat on will ALL forgive her.
She is too big to fail!
They are
May 17, 2009 - 21:32 ET by TjexciteThey are allowed to lie, cheat and steal but only lie to, cheat from and steal from Conservative or Republican. If they do it each other then comes the excuses.
But if she lifted this from a right blog she would most likely say they stole from her.
When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all : Futurama
Why assume the
May 17, 2009 - 20:42 ET by Delsa"friend" who gave her the clever paragraph, is a he?
If certain online "media" outlets start charging for access...
May 17, 2009 - 20:49 ET by R D Helm...even though previous attempts have failed miserably (see NYT) you will probably see more of this kind of garbage.
http://www.ft.com/cm...
LOL-The only way libs are going to pay fof access is if they can use someone else's money. The sad thing for Dowd is the NYT is nearly broke.
-Dave
Heck Dave...somebody else
May 17, 2009 - 20:58 ET by bigtimerHeck Dave...somebody else like msnbc/NewsWeek would hire her to do something if we were ever lucky enough to watch the Old Grey Lady go down...they never go away.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
bt,
May 17, 2009 - 21:05 ET by R D HelmI was thinking that if the major media outlets are successful at charging for their content (and I doubt they will be, given the free-wheeling history of the now well-established internet culture) and knowing how broke the NYT is, they would probably force Dowd to foot the bill herself.
And we know how reluctant most libs are to spend their own money.
LOL-Even for professional reasons.
The funny part is, if any of those other outlets hire her, they will probably soon be in the same boat themselves.
-The MSM Titanic. :-O
-Dave
Hey Dave... Well
May 17, 2009 - 21:09 ET by bigtimerHey Dave...
Well now... that term "professional reasons" could go a long with way with posts when you think about it...if ya know what I mean...hehehee
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
You guys are aware that it
May 17, 2009 - 20:45 ET by mostlymoderateYou guys are aware that it was Mrs Dowd that bickered about Biden plagarizing. http://tiny.cc/qWvKO
Sure, Biden plagiarized but so did Dowd!!! LOL
Say It Ain't So Mo Do
May 17, 2009 - 20:46 ET by slickwillie2001Seriously I have to wonder why this isn't caught more often. There are so many great blogs out there with great commentary, especially the specialty blogs like military, medical, etc, and relatively few old-media writers like Mo. I suspect it happens far more than we know.
Maybe someone should send out some robots and surf for them. You'd have to find a way to select out only those not properly attributed though.
Dowd
May 17, 2009 - 20:58 ET by hughglassI am sure this is the first time. Yah right.
Maureen!
May 17, 2009 - 21:39 ET by blazermaniacMaureen Dowd is a mistake! And so is the NY Times, for still being a newspaper.
She heard it from a friend,
May 17, 2009 - 21:03 ET by GregEShe heard it from a friend, and was able to write the entire thought just as Marshall wrote it.........VERBATIM. Yea that's believable.
for Mo
May 17, 2009 - 21:11 ET by botgwell i heard it from a friend whooo heard from a friend whoo heard from another who said you been messing around.
now i don't believe it, not for a minute; you're under the gun so ya take it on the run
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” -- Chief Justice John Roberts
Your white lies.... You
May 17, 2009 - 21:20 ET by bigtimerYour white lies....
You can never look back again...
Wow...how time flies Bruce. ;-)
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
indeed
May 17, 2009 - 21:43 ET by botgindeed
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” -- Chief Justice John Roberts
New Job for Dowd
May 17, 2009 - 21:07 ET by Forest for the TreesNo doubt, the Obama administration will surely snap her up now to have her work in the Whitehouse... she certainly has just achieved one of their first criterion for employment -the ability & willingness to spin and deflect blame.
Hey FT.. Now if she has
May 17, 2009 - 21:11 ET by bigtimerHey FT..
Now if she has cheated on her taxes...she's a shoe-in for sure!
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
Hmmmmmmm
May 17, 2009 - 21:18 ET by OxyConJason Blair, who is black, was forced to resign from the NYT because of plagiarism.
So, can we assume that if MoDo is not forced to resign, that the NYT is a racist organization?
Al Sharpton might have just found his next great cause.
Another outright LIE by a lying, thieving liberal hack.
May 17, 2009 - 21:35 ET by Tailgunner'josh is right. I didn't read his blog last week, and didn't have any idea he had made that point until you informed me just now.'
Does Maureen think we're %$&@$& stupid?
The quote she stole from 'Josh' was verbatim except for the Bush reference.
And if Dowd didn't get it from Marshall's column after all, despite her belated acknowledgement, are we expected to swallow the ridiculous idea that her 'friend' gave her an 'idea', and she 'spontaneously' wrote a virtually identical paragraph?
Another liberal lie after another after another.
If lies were money, Dowd could bail out Chrysler.
NOLO PUGNARE ME OCCIDERE
plagiarizing
May 17, 2009 - 22:06 ET by greghansonJust the other day the Anchorage Daily News lifted material straight from the Daily Kos in connection with a slam on Sarah Palin's upcoming book. Fortunately, Conservatives4Palin exposed them, and within a few hours the ADN removed their attack piece. This is most likely far more common as newspapers cut back on expenses, they are resorting to finding material on the far left loon sites like the Daily Kos, Huffington Post, etc.
You can be sure Soros is
May 17, 2009 - 22:16 ET by bigtimerYou can be sure Soros is smiling with all this plagiarizing from the net.
Like others have said, this has probably been going on a long time, sure glad it is coming to attention now, now everyone is going to be checking his BS.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
MoDo
May 17, 2009 - 22:16 ET by nandrelliRemember "elipsis gate", where MoDo combined two different sentences from Bush to make it sound like he said we couldn't win in Iraq?
That showed that "integrity" is not a word in her vocabulary. Now this, and the screwy "explanation", just proves it even more.
§ LOL!!! Noel - Dowd getting HAMMERED on Lefty Blogs!!!
May 17, 2009 - 22:33 ET by TheSterThis is TOO IRONIC!!
Looks like Bloggers don't like getting plagiarized too much!!!
Here's some links...(yes...I'm a member of SEVERAL Lefty Blogs...for times like these!!!)
As of 10:20pm Sun 5/17/09
http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/ruh-roh-modo-caught-plagiarizing-tpm
http://mediamatters.org/blog/200905170020
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/5/17/732566/-Very-Serious-Journalist-plagiarizes-blogger
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/17/maureen-dowd-admits-inadv_n_204418.html
OMO!!!
Dowd...and Pelosi...Ripped in one week!!!
....oh...and Biden leaks VP Secret Bunker....
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/17/oops-biden-reveals-location-secret-vp-bunker/?test=latestnews
LOL!!!
Ster.
GEEZ!!!
May 17, 2009 - 22:47 ET by RESTLESS 1And somehow the media led so many to believe that Sarah Palin was the dumb one.
"This
liberal would be all about socialize -- uh, uh, would be about
basically taking over and the government running all of your companies."-Maxine Waters 2008
The New Socialist Man/Woman
May 17, 2009 - 23:31 ET by RR GOPThe New Socialist Man/Woman can use any source at their disposal necessary in order to advance the Socialist Revolution thus benefiting the Proletariat.
Is it plagiarism to take freely from Chairman Mao's Little Red Book? Hell no!
Come on you neo-Cons! Don't you care about all those people out there with just basic cable??? Have a heart, willya?
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 61% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory (yep...approval for Congress now at 39%...do you believe that!?).
Who wrote the column?
May 17, 2009 - 23:43 ET by slickwillie2001Don Surber: "This does answer the title to her book, 'Are Men Necessary?' Yes. Someone has to write her columns…" (ref)
But to add to what others have said re plausibility, there's just no way you stumble across a sentence this cumbersome. I say it was cut and pasted on a computer and then the minor change made. Which is so silly and lazy, because you can write that simple meme in a hundred ways. It's not a complex concept. So she's guilty of plagiarism and also extreme laziness.
There's another possibility; perhaps the intern wrote the whole column and Mo just acts as her editor. Wonder how often that happens?
sw...Never thought of
May 17, 2009 - 23:50 ET by bigtimersw...
Never thought of that...either way, it's her responsibility, sure makes her look bad either way too if she tried saying anything about her intern really writing this.
Anyway, interesting thoughts you just suggested.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
§ Slick, Bt...I ALWAYS said...
May 18, 2009 - 00:09 ET by TheSterYou know I say copying is really WEAK...
...but to add to what others have said re plausibility, there's just no way you stumble across a sentence this cumbersome. I say it was cut and pasted on a computer and then the minor change made. Which is so silly and lazy, because you can write that simple meme in a hundred ways. It's not a complex concept. So she's guilty of plagiarism and also extreme laziness...
....I say it ALL the Time.
<note I added ....'s>
Ster.
Aw Ster...
May 18, 2009 - 08:32 ET by sherylsims<whine> I was gonna do that!!!
You beat me to it! I wonder if anyone would notice if I did it too!
Oh well!
“More and more the
May 18, 2009 - 04:09 ET by Jack BauerThe wonder of this sophomoric statement is that ANYONE would seek to claim authorship let alone plagiarize.
§ Sorry Dowd...BUSTED!!!!
May 18, 2009 - 04:18 ET by TheSterRead it...
...Know it...
....LIVE IT.
LOL!!!
This is TOO IRONIC!!
Looks like Bloggers don't like getting plagiarized too much!!!
Here's some links...(yes...I'm a member of SEVERAL Lefty Blogs...for times like these!!!)
As of 10:20pm Sun 5/17/09
http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/ruh-roh-modo-caught-plagiarizing-tpm
http://mediamatters.org/blog/200905170020
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/5/17/732566/-Very-Serious-Journalist-plagiarizes-blogger
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/17/maureen-dowd-admits-inadv_n_204418.html
OMO!!!
Ster.
modo
May 18, 2009 - 09:20 ET by east tennessee johnI guess modo is reaching the age where she just can't remember things from time to time.
At Least
May 18, 2009 - 09:48 ET by mbs6At least she's in good company. Martin Luther King was a plagiarist too: http://setanta.unl.e...
Don't forget
May 18, 2009 - 11:55 ET by StarAZDon't forget Credit Card Joe.
→ VISA Joe
May 18, 2009 - 12:02 ET by Cool ArrowSpilling the beans about the secret location during times of National Emergency was a nice touch.
Who knows, maybe Joe Biden will tell us the truth about Area 51.
I think he may own the original tinfoil hat.
"I was fighting a war in Iraq!" - Nancy Lugosi
Relying on bloggers?
May 18, 2009 - 10:40 ET by slickwillie2001Another wonderful aspect of this scandal is that it points out that those bloggers, that the old media loves to deride as 'folks working in their pajamas at home', etc, are being read by those same folks in the old media and in fact being used as sources.
The real outrage is the content not the plagerism
May 18, 2009 - 12:23 ET by Jonah JohansenThe real outrage, what she should really be apologizing for is the baseless
illogical slander against former President George Bush.
During the entire period after 9/11 the administration
number one goal was preventing another attack. One means to accomplish that
goal in the view of many both in the administration and outside the
administration was the elimination of Sadahm Hussein as an aider and abettor of
terrorism. The 'lifted' paragraph implies two demonstrably false
premises
1. that there was a period of time the administration was concerned
with justification for an attack on Iraq but not concerned about
another 9/11 style attack.
2. that the forceful removal of Saddam Hussein was motivated by something
other than his perceived connection with terrorism.
You could plausibly(but in my opinion incorrectly) argue the efficacy of the
attack on Hussein, the immanent nature of the threat, the handling of
post Sadahm Iraq.
When engaging in character assassination you can always invent
base and evil motivation because without the ability to mind read, no one can
defend against or disprove your allegation.
Re The real outrage
May 18, 2009 - 13:48 ET by slickwillie2001Oops. You're right of course.
I wonder if anyone has analyzed the timeline of the capture of the al Qaeda bigs and correlated it to the waterboarding schedule. Perhaps waterboarding simply happened because we caught someone to do it to, not because of anything to do with Iraq.
Another example of "Bush Derangement Syndrome" on display.
May 19, 2009 - 00:19 ET by jawebster1Even when this "broad" plagerizes, she still has to get a little dig in against President Bush by inserting and substituting words only a liberal would use: "the Bush crowd was" for "We were". Personally, I'll take the Bush crowd over his crowd of Liberal detractors like "Dowdy" any day of the week. Jim Webster