Amusing
Joe Conason has a hit piece up on Salon today about plagiarism.
Check out this photo for a second:
That's the picture that runs in line next to the story. Salon is talking about plagiarism, while lifting photos, without license or reprint rights. The byline at the bottom says “bendomenech.com”. They're stealing Ben's photos, in order to further aid the trashing of him.
Oh the delicious, delicious irony.
Updated on Saturday night: Ben has resigned and apologized for any act of plagiarism, and has committed an act of contrition.
Catherine, in the comments below, believes that Conason's article is not a hit piece because the accusations leveled in the article may be true. That's immaterial. Conason's article is still a hit piece because it serves to defame the accused, not "represent the best of journalism" or some other line full of bullshit. The people who were motivated to attack Ben did not do so out of some respect for the profession of journalism, or out of respect for the Washington Post. They did so out of pure vitriol, and to say anything else would to be deluding one's self.
Comments:
it's not exactly a "hit piece" seeing as it's...all totally true.
Posted by catherine on March 25, 2006 — 5:30 PM
I'd say it is a hit piece as it's clearly designed to defame the character of the accused in the court of public opinion.
Whether or not it's true doesn't matter in the judgment of the article.
That said, Ben has resigned from the Post, he's admitted his culpability and has engaged in an act of contrition.
I'm accepting his apology because he's my friend, and because, frankly, I like him a great deal, and I respect the way he's handled himself throughout. I will caveat the above, though.
Posted by Tom Bridge on March 25, 2006 — 6:50 PM