The hot website BuzzFeed fired politics editor Benny Johnson, saying it found "40 instances of sentences or phrases copied word for word from other sites."
BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith announced Friday night that Johnson was dismissed after they had confirmed many instances of plagiarism. Smith must regret telling Gawker that Johnson was “one of the web’s deeply original writers." The Huffington Post explained:
Twitter users earlier this week began pointing our examples where Johnson appeared to have copied or reworded text from the work of others.
Smith apologized, adding, "We are deeply embarrassed and sorry to have misled you. Benny’s editors -- I, Katherine Miller, John Stanton, Shani Hilton, and McKay Coppins -- bear real responsibility." They plan to add editor's notes to every instance of plagiarism.
Benny Johnson was previously with Glenn Beck's The Blaze, and has also written for Breitbart News.
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