Hi Ho Hari: Plagiarizing Columnist Suspended
July 13, 2011 13:43 by Simon Plosker
Johann Hari
HonestReporting and Independent columnist Johann Hari have something of a history:
- In 2008, Hari compared Israel to excrement: ““Whenever I try to mouth these words [of reassurance for Israel], a remembered smell fills my nostrils. It is the smell of shit.”
- In the same opinion piece, he used a falsified quotation to assert that Israel was guilty of “ethnic cleansing” in 1948 despite the fact that he had previously been warned that it was false.
- Following our critique of his work, Hari failed to respond to the charges, instead attacking HonestReporting as part of “a campaign to smear anybody who tries to describe the plight of the Palestinian people. It is an attempt to intimidate and silence – and to a large degree, it works….”
Indeed, Hari has come under HR’s spotlight on numerous occasions for one-sided opinion pieces attacking Israel. At the time of his excrement op-ed, we stated that Hari’s use of an invented quotation is enough to bring the rest of the content and his own judgment into disrepute.
So perhaps the news that Hari has been suspended from the Independent pending an inquiry into allegations of plagiarism shouldn’t come as a surprise. As The Guardian reports:
Hari was accused of plagiarism last month by journalists and bloggers who condemned his practice of sometimes using quotes which he presented as being made to him in interviews, when in fact they were taken from older articles or the interviewees’ own books.
He seemed to have survived the initial plagiarism allegations, but is now facing separate claims of “sock puppetry” – that he used an online alias to hit back at fellow journalists who had criticised his work.
The Daily Telegraph notes:
He [Hari] denied plagiarism but since then users of the internet have found further examples of him allegedly recycling quotes.
In one case, an interview of veteran journalist Ann Leslie, critics said 545 words of his nearly 5,000-word piece came from an article she wrote in the Daily Mail. …
Chris Blackhurst, the new editor of the Independent, said: “Johann Hari has been suspended for two months pending the outcome of an internal inquiry. We have no further comment to make.” …
Writing on his blog after the allegations first surfaced, Hari said the accusation was “totally false” but added he did “have something to apologise for”.
He said: “I did not and never have taken words from another context and twisted them to mean something different – I only ever substituted clearer expressions of the same sentiment, so the reader knew what the subject thinks in the most comprehensible possible words.”
Why is it, however, that prior questions that we asked surrounding Hari’s credibility were not investigated? Is plagiarising false quotations from anti-Israel websites considered to be acceptable journalism? Or does the Independent not consider journalistic integrity to be an issue when it comes to reporting on Israel?
It seems that we already know the answer to that last question. The Independent has a habit of ignoring journalistic errors when it comes to coverage of Israel.
In October 2006, notoriously anti-Israel journalist Robert Fisk and Independent writer was given the front page of the Independent to spread the libel that Israel had used uranium-based weapons in southern Lebanon during that summer’s war.
HonestReporting challenged this at the time following a UN investigation clearing Israel of the allegations only a short time later. We castigated the Independent for its shoddy journalism but to this day, neither the paper nor Fisk have issued a retraction.
Perhaps this has something to do with the attitude of the Independent’s former editor Simon Kelner who has only recently been replaced and moved upstairs. At the time that the Hari allegations first surfaced, Kelner said that:
while what Hari did was “wrong” it was born from an honest ambition.
“In the great scheme of things it’s not a great scandal, it’s a naive error which we recognise”.
He added that the Independent was investigating at the time “who knew and what they knew”, adding that “of course we’re going to look at some of the pieces he’s done in the past and review them”.
It is certainly time to review some of Hari’s past work including examples such as the one above that raise question marks over his credibility and journalistic ethics.
Why is it that an issue of journalistic integrity is not considered to be a legitimate issue when it involves coverage of Israel? In Hari’s mind and perhaps in the minds of the Independent’s editorial team, using false quotations or, in the case of Fisk, spreading false libels, is apparently acceptable.
Only when such practices go beyond the Israel stories do they seemingly become the subject of concern or outrage. As we have consistently maintained, coverage of Israel and the Middle East should be subject to the same general standards of journalism that are supposed to operate.
Johann Hari’s suspension is a welcome development for holding the media to proper journalistic standards. Does this and a new editor signal a sea change in the Independent’s attitude and will coverage of Israel in the paper be a beneficiary?
The jury is very much still out.
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Henry Tobias
1:40 pm
Jul 14, 2011
Funny thing is, although it has nothing to do with plagarism, that Hari is GAY and if he went to live in Gaza, or even the West Bank, he would be executed if he practised GAY sex. In Israel no one would give a damn.
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LeeSouthend
7:33 pm
Jul 14, 2011
I really dont get Hari. Its not as if hes ignorent about Islam as Iv met him a couple of times at one law for all meetings but then he goes and slanders the only non muslim country in the middle east.
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Ian R. Sigel
8:10 pm
Jul 14, 2011
This is what occurs when the cowardice of the weak overwhelms the Spiritual strength that flows through all us from G-D. If the weak man can convince himself that there is no G-D then he has no one but himself to answer to. The individual then loses the spiritual conduit necessary to tap into the inner strength we all possess to overcome adversity.
This is a frightened man-child. He lives in a world fraught with danger, injustice and uncertainty. He is terrified of his true enemies. In the vain of, ‘if you can’t beat em’…join em’, he chooses the cowards route and attempts to join them. What he doesn’t understand is he is empowering the people who will eventually treat him with the same murderous disdain as the rest of us who refuse to submit to them. At best, he will become a slave.
Think Stockholm syndrome. That is where the kidnap victim, in the face of frightening uncertainty and a sense of hopelessness, eventually sides with his/her captors. A truly misguided survival instinct.
Be Well, Ian
AM YISRAEL CHAI!
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Anonymous
11:20 pm
Jul 15, 2011
Brilliant analysis!!!!! Now why are you not a Famous Columnist ????? The world needs more minds such as yours!!!!!
Am Yisrael Chai!!!
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Ian R. Sigel
11:32 pm
Jul 15, 2011
Have you examined my writing style? It is truly atrocious. I’m a photographer and as such I am a great deal more proficient at expressing myself through imagery. That said, I sincerely appreciate the kind words. Now you’ll have to excuse me while I go deflate my ego.
Be Well, Ian
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deavman
10:56 am
Jul 17, 2011
Although I do agree to a certain extant to your words above, I resent the equivalency between atheists (Non believers) and backbone-lacking individuals like Hari. Atheists do not loose their ethics once they stop believing on the contrary. People that abide by ethical standards and not concerned by a higher being running their lives and keeping accounting of their actions, are, I think much more stable than the religion -minded ones. Like in any group, you will find the full gamut of possibilities.So please keep your religious self righteousness in check .
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Armand Kidouchim
10:07 pm
Jul 17, 2011
deavman,….
your post and its content makes one think if mankind could have evolved with ”good moral values” without religion, and I mean the 10 commandments.
Just think for a moment what society would be like if there was no ”Spiritual & Moral” thinking in mankind’s acts.
As to GOD and atheists,…I am ”LOL” for those who claim to be atheists.
Do you think GOD needs you to believe in (HIM/HER) in order to BE?
Dear atheist GOD>>>> ”IS” >>>>beyond your ”WILL”.
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Karl
8:14 am
Jul 18, 2011
The idea that morality comes uniquely from God (or Gods) is a bit (very) simplistic and intelligent believers will not use it as an argument. I never stopped believing in God – because I never believed in the first place (while growing up in Israel, learning Tanach and serving in IDF)- just like many (most) Israelis.Your assessment that we lack morality is insulting and silly.
This Hari Potter impersonator is an infantile that found an easy way to get famous by attacking Israel with facts taken from his fantasy books- nothing to do with not being a believer. But if you want to see Jewish believers with similar views as Hari (the village fool) how about Neturei Karta and Prof Yeshayahu Leibowitz? Can you explain to me where is/was their morality?
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deavman
11:13 am
Jul 18, 2011
@ Armand Kidouchim
Well that’s grand… In other words you are saying that if the idea of god had not been invented humans would keep on killing/raping/pillaging each other .This would not last very long to everyone ‘s chagrin. No, society needs no god to realize that murder is bad, stealing also is bad and so on. Those things that you assign to god/religion with such patronizing attitude are standards that any community, if to survive, will adopt as logical steps towards a regulated, liveable and respectable way of life. As far as god’s existence or lack thereof, I don’t particularly care.. It’s the demonizing on your part, of people who choose not to believe that concerns me..Your belief is your own, please remain respectful when addressing other people you know not. God can “be” all he wants, it does not affect me and that’s the way I like it.
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Anonymous
11:15 pm
Jul 15, 2011
As Henry Tobias, astutely reminded, in Gaza or in any other Islamic state/dictatorship/wanna-be fantasy nation (Palestinia is the LATIN word ascribed by the Romans to the Jewish Homeland11), Homosexuality is punishable by death. Perhaps that is why there is a strict adherence to “shroud-type” dressing amongst the female population – does ANYONE really know with surety that it is a woman hiding behind the veils??? My guess is that many members of the Arab Gay/Lesbian/Transgender/transvestite Communities is keeping alive behind these vestiments.
Mr. Hari does not seem to have the cognitive ability for much, even for self preservation – Anywhere there is Sharia Law – the Gay/Lesbian/Transgender/transvestite Communities, are at risk for the death penality. In the Juaeo-Christian Ethos, Human Life superseeds personal opinion, and thus, individuals will not be persecuted. Mr. Hari seriously needs to visit an Islamic State, and experience for himself how many “rights” he is entitled to. It is the only way, for Mr. Hari-Plagiari seems bereft of even a modicum of intelligence.
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Noreen
1:01 am
Jul 15, 2011
Hari would be welcomed with opened arms at the NY Times — on both counts: plagiarism and hatred of Israel.
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Robert Lewis
8:08 am
Jul 15, 2011
“A gentle riddance Hari, – draw the curtains, go.”
Of course I wrote this Hari, it has nothing to do with Shakespeare!
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Anonymous
4:28 am
Jul 18, 2011
Line 1 – “A gentle riddance Hari, – draw the curtains, go.”
Line 2 – “May your end, your loves, your words your life follow;
Line 3 – To rotting catacombs, deeply buried in the sands, somewhere far, in some Arab land.”
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Leslie Portnoy
10:26 am
Jul 15, 2011
I am amazed that in your critique of the Independent you don’t mention the Robert Fisk report after Operation Defensive Shield of “the smell of hundreds of bodies buried beneath the rubble” in Jenin – the source, or a major source, of the “Jenin massacre” fabrication. To this day, though the “Palestinians” eventually claimed that 56 “Palestinians” had been killed in the whole Israeli operation (as against 26 or 29 Israeli soldiers dead – I can’t remember the exact figure), neither Fisk nor the Independent have ever retracted that particular libel.
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Josephine Bacon
11:16 am
Jul 15, 2011
“The stink” invented by Fisk and Hari as opposed to the real stink of 17 unburied bodies of impoverished Jews shoved into a disused well in Norwich after being brutally murdered (or maybe even alive), including eleven children. That was nine centuries ago, what has changed?
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BARRY G KOHAN
9:29 pm
Jul 17, 2011
HARI AND FISK HAVE CAUSED A MAJOR PROBLEM WITH MY NEW APPLE COMPUTER! WHENEVER I ENTER THEIR NAMES IN MY SEARCH BAR. THE DISTINCT SMELL OF HORSE SHIT EMANATES FROM THE SPEAKERS.
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Steve Mann
10:58 am
Jul 18, 2011
Dear Barry- Whilst I agree with your sentiment – You have have to presume that there are many who follow and read this site. With not all of them being supporters of Israel.
So May I suggest the expressions you use, whilst easing your frustration with these unethical journalists, really has no bearing on the argument, neither dose it put us in good light- For these type of reporters will take just one “Bad Comment” comment out of a hundred decent ones to use as an example of how we behave.
I give you this with all humility.
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HatTrick3
9:23 pm
Jul 21, 2011
Shouldn’t “Hi Ho Hari” have been “Heave Ho Hari?”
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Johann Hari vor Aberkennung des Orwell-Preises « Medien BackSpin
4:38 pm
Jul 29, 2011
[...] Angaben der Daily Telegraph zufolge wird das Komitee die Bekanntgabe des Orwell-Preises so lange verschieben, bis der Independent seine eigenen Untersuchungen abgeschlossen hat. Das Blatt hat Hari bereits bis zur Bekanntgabe des Ergebnisses suspendiert. [...]
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