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November 09, 2005

Plagiarism Bad, Libel Good

So along with a decent article on DeWine and Alito's labor record, the Plain Dealer also chose to write an editorial restating their attack on Sherrod Brown as a "plagiarist" and added an attack on me, calling me an "Internet dilettante."

This is part of the pattern of these kind of scandal stories-- when the supposed victim of a politician's actions won't cooperate in the scandal, the media attack them as well. Think Clinton cheating with Monica -- and Hillary getting attacked as a doormat and Monica being mocked as overweight.

But the irony of this Plain Dealer attack is that just yesterday, when Steve Koff, the author of the Sherrod Brown hit piece, talked to me on the telephone and was trying to convince me that I was a victim, he praised the professionalism and carefully written quality of my writing and research. So one day I'm a highly skilled professional whose work was misused and the next I'm a dilettante.

Aside from the insult, this is pretty much clear proof of malice, since they only changed their characterization of me from "professional" to "dilettante" when it served their purpose to diminish and libel me to justify their hit piece.

The reality is that the Plain Dealer is in no position to lecture anyone on writing ethics. Sherrod Brown corrected his mistake within minutes of having it called to his attention. The Plain Dealer just keeps adding new targets of libel for their hit pieces without a hint of apology.

As Atrios would say, time for a conference on blogger ethics.

Posted by Nathan at November 9, 2005 08:08 PM