Discussion for article #225617
My mind wanders to all of the editors around the net and at TPM who are looking on with interest and what sort of thoughts? Are plagiarism charges lurking elsewhere, waiting for their moment to stun?
1 Like
What Benny Johnson did is a misdemeanor compared to the felony level misinformation and blatant lies spewed on Fox News on a daily basis.
2 Likes
Sgt
On a comparison basis, yes, but highly unethical behavior for anyone – especially a presumed professional journalist.
People would kill for a job like his. Reckless behavior on his part.
On the other hand – as you point out – we have the Fox version of the Orwellian Ministry of Truth, a virtual party apparatus of the GOP that hourly and shamelessly spews outright lies.
Headline is a bit misleading, no?
From my understanding, Tweeters @blippoblappo and @crushingbort exposed Benny. Then Buzzfeed had to address the issue. It may have been at that time they reviewed the posts in question, however they were not the ones that discovered them in the first place. In fact, they’d still be in La-La Land, accepting Benny’s work without even crosschecking them had Benny not been called out for the thief he is.
It’s really helpful in controlling the PR crisis message, if your company is in the business of controlling messages on a daily basis.
1 Like
I can only assume that The Buzzfeed High Council of Editors has issued a sternly worded tweet to its other editors to not get caught this easily doing this again.
How hard is it to use some “” and a citation? There are apps that make this really simple. I think I might investigate if the guy actually wrote or didn’t farm them out to poor phd kids.
Or did I just bust a business model?