Comments on: The Maureen Dowd Plagiarism Scandal

By: Turning The Tables On Vicious Rolling Stone Leftist Attack Piece On Michelle Palin (Among Other Things, They Plagiarized). « Start Thinking Right

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 00:21:34 +0000

[...] papers such as the New York Times (I’ll just drop a couple of names like Jayson Blair and Maureen Dowd and Zachery Kouwe) to conservative papers like the Wall Street Journal, and you see which side [...]

By: amandamcnall

amandamcnall — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:13:36 +0000

[...] Maureen Dowd: Respected, though controversial, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd was under fire when comparisons were drawn between a May 2009 column she wrote and a column written by TalkingPointsMemo.com editor Josh Marshall the week before. As PlagiarismToday.com reports, “the two paragraphs, both over 40 words, were identical save for one minor alteration.” The Times backed Dowd, claiming it was all an accident. Dowd apologized online and said that a friend, who must have read Marshall’s column, helped her with her own column that week. Dowd was harshly criticized for the instance, however, since twenty-two years earlier, she had so fiercely pursued then-Presidential candidate Joe Biden for allegedly committing plagiarism. [...]

By: The Chris Anderson Plagiarism Controversy | PlagiarismToday

The Chris Anderson Plagiarism Controversy | PlagiarismToday — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:20:15 +0000

[...] is important to remember that this is not like the Maureen Dowd case where we are talking about one quote with omitted attribution, but about at least a dozen and, by [...]

By: louis haas

louis haas — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:54:58 +0000

Dear Mr. Bailey,Sadly you are whitewashing here, and like you I do plagiarism analysis for a living and have been doing it since 1981 (I am a university professor). What Dowd has done here is a classic and egregious example of plagiarism, that would have seen her flunking the class, and hopefully learning the lesson. Also, there is no such animal as accidental plagiarism–it is all intentional and deliberate–and sloppiness is no excuse.

By: ron hansing

ron hansing — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:22:03 +0000

"Every Artist Is a Cannibal Every Poet Is a Thief" Bono… Did Bono really originate this phrase or did he steal it from some bloke in an Irish Bar? And if so is it plagerism. I think not, the same with Dowd's column.This is common in music, often, we see strings of notes used by other composers, are they thiefs?The same with movies. Did Spielberg in Private Ryan, steal fthe opening scene rom Stones Platoon? Did Dowd quote her 43 words from her friend, and if so should she have given her credit? It is entirely possible that her friend was her source. No. because, she context is changed because it was incorporated into her entire column with her bent on the issue. Just as her friend gave her verbatim line from the original writer. ( This is not implausable, when one hears a profound statement.) Besides, Maureen is the princess of journalism and Dorthy Rabinowitz's the queen. No one could have written that column, except for Maureen. What about actors… Marilyn Monroe, acting style has been plagerized by millions, and she I'm sure borrowed from many great actors in the past. We are all thieves. I stole from all the great writers. I once heard a story about one writer asking another writer if he is angry that another writer "stole" his phrase. His answer… I am flattered. And that is my answer. For some reason, writers have this complex that every thing they say, is theirs… But I am sure, somewhere in their past, they likewise "stole it" form someone else. Writers are too sensitive. All other artists tend to be flattered that they are copied. But writers for some reason, seem to have a massive inferiority complex. Someone once said that there are a 100 plots in literature, and they are all in the BIBLE.ron hansing

By: H.L. Mencken: Quotes from a Contrarian’s Contrarian

H.L. Mencken: Quotes from a Contrarian’s Contrarian — Sat, 23 May 2009 05:32:42 +0000

[...] op-ed and aneviscerating prose style feebly imitated today by the likes of admitted plagiarizer Maureen Dowd, and not so feebly by British born contrarian Christopher [...]

By: Jonathan Bailey

Jonathan Bailey — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:54:52 +0000

An interesting possibility and one I had not weighed.I have to be honest though, I think of my self as email savvy as just about anyone but I've never said I talked to people over email. Then again, maybe I just don't realize it.Of course, there are other technologies including IM that it could be as well. Still, until we hear from Dowd exactly what she says happened, we're not going to really know.As for the friend, if what Dowd says is right, then you are correct, poor form and very un-media savvy.

By: Jonathan Bailey

Jonathan Bailey — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:50:29 +0000

Hm, hard to say on this one. Admittedly, I'm not familiar with Shafer's views on plagiarism elsewhere. I think calling the explanation plausible doesn't make much sense nor does saying that she hasn't used it as an excuse. With one incident of relatively minor plagiarism, it could be many different things but I don't think it was what Dowd claimed it was and anyone who thinks it is has some form of blinders on.However, even if her response had been perfect, I do think this would have warranted a deeper investigation into her writing just to make sure this was the only incident. I don't think that has happened yet, not officially at least.I don't really have anything for or against Dowd, I'm just not ready to convict or drop prosecution either. There's more to this and anyone who can't see that probably isn't paying attention or is showing some bias.

By: David

David — Fri, 22 May 2009 00:31:29 +0000

These days we "talk" by e-mail. From Dowd's explanation, it sounds as if she may have cut, pasted, and slightly edited a point that a friend had made to her in an e-mail. Still, it seems odd that one of Dowd's friends, presumably media savvy, would have plagiarized the point and sent it to her.

By: Mark Palko

Mark Palko — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:55:23 +0000

From an ethics standpoint, I thought the most interesting part of the story was the latest example of Jack Shafer once again reshaping his set of rules to account for a friend's behavior. I addressed it here:http://daddywhatsarepublican.blogspot.com/2009/.....but I would enjoy seeing your take on the issue.