Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Original Serial Right Wing Plagiarist
(Talon News: Propaganda & Plagiarism and You've Been Plagiarized! are two articles that I toiled over with Susan G. and the ePluribus crew a year ago...which after a long delay...are finally online for all to read.)
"Conservative blogger getting Gannonized," wrote Jeff Gannon at his eponymous blog a week ago about Ben Domenech shortly after he was hired by the Washington Post Website to blog about "Red America" which caused a semi-furor.
A couple days later, Domenech ended up resigning after it was proven by numerous liberal bloggers and websites that he had plagiarized many times in the past.
A year ago I uncovered widespread plagiarism by Jeff Gannon and most of his colleagues at Talon News, a "news Website" affilliated with GOPUSA.com, a conservative activist website run by Republican operatives in Texas.
But not one newspaper, magazine or cable news show ever reported it.
Talon News shut down, but GOPUSA.com is still kicking, and they did a major upgrade to their Website not long ago that makes it look less amateurish...so business may be booming for Bobby Eberle, with all the publicity he received last year (plus he's running for Vice President of the Texas GOP).
I doubt things will change now. Nobody in the media cared last year.
And Joe Strupp and company at Editor & Publisher basically told me to go fly a kite. They refused to report it once. Even though I wrote them countless times...yet they covered Jeff Gannon ad infinitum...I even complained about their ducking of the plagiarism in a letter published at Romenesko.
Ben Domenech forced to resign as a blogger, and freakin' Jeff Gannon's writing for the Washington Blade.
Well...what can I say?
Nothing.
My voice is sore for doing all I could to get this out last year...and man was that tough...no one would listen to me because I was just a lowly, unknown blogger at the time with no A-list blogger friends.
Anyway...this is for my buddy, Jeff Gannon, though it's not as pretty a presentation as ePluribus' Merle put together at the Web site (PDF file link...but damn worth checking out cause you've never seen plagiarized proof so lovingly captured before: link)...this is an exclusive Jeff Gannon plagiarized copy and paste job that I've never published before:
New Jeff Gannon Plagiarism
Jeff Gannon’s “Alabama Chief Justice Won’t Bow on Ten Commandments Monument” -- published by Talon News on August 15th, 2003 (link or link) – was plagiarized from three Associated Press articles and a Fox News story drawn from one of the A.P. stories:
“Alabama chief justice says he won't remove Ten Commandments monument” by Bob Johnson, The Associated Press, August 14, 2003 (link).
“City Council votes to rehang Ten Commandments plaque” The Associated Press, August 14, 2003 (link).
“County Council backs Ten Commandments monument” The Associated Press, August 14, 2003 (link).
“Alabama's Chief Justice Refuses to Remove Ten Commandments” Fox News' Jonathan Serrie and The Associated Press contributed to this report, August 15, 2003 (link).
(Note: A.P. refers to Bob Johnson story and A.P. (2) and A.P. (3) to the other two articles)
Gannon: “Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore defiantly declared Thursday that he has no intention of removing a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state judicial building. He will instead file papers taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Fox: “Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore stood firm Thursday, saying he has no intention of removing a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state judicial building, and will file papers taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Gannon: “Moore said he plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to stop a federal judge from enforcing an order to remove the monument.”
AP : “Moore said he plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to stop a federal judge from enforcing an order to remove the monument.”
Gannon: “Attorneys who sued to remove the monument filed a judicial ethics complaint Thursday against Moore for disobeying Thompson's order. Richard Cohen, a lawyer for the Southern Poverty Law Center that joined the lawsuit, said it was a sad day for the state to have a public official saying he would defy a court order.”
AP: “Attorneys who sued to remove the monument filed a judicial ethics complaint Thursday against Moore for disobeying the order. A lawyer for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which joined the lawsuit, said it was a sad day for the state to have a public official saying he would defy a court order.”
Gannon: “Moore's argument was likened to the claims of segregationists such as Alabama's Gov. George C. Wallace in the 1960s.”
A.P.: “…his argument echoed state's rights claims of segregationists such as Alabama's Gov. George C. Wallace in the 1960s.”
Gannon: “Moore pledged to ask the Supreme Court to overrule Thompson. He accused Thompson of a "callous disregard for the people of Alabama" and their tax dollars. The promised fines would add to the approximately $125 million the state has already spent defending the monument's place in the building's rotunda. Moore indicated that the state is spending $25,000 a day of taxpayers' money on the case.
Fox: “Moore pledged to ask the Supreme Court to overrule Thompson and said the promised fines would add to the approximate $125 million the state has already spent defending the monument's place. The state is spending $25,000 a day of taxpayers' money on the case, Moore said.”
Gannon: “In Pennsylvania on Wednesday, a federal appeals court refused to reconsider a ruling that allowed a decades-old Ten Commandments plaque to remain on the facade of a courthouse in suburban Philadelphia.”
AP: “In Pennsylvania on Wednesday, a federal appeals court refused to reconsider a ruling that allowed a decades-old Ten Commandments plaque to remain on the facade of a courthouse in suburban Philadelphia.”
Gannon: “After a year of debate, the city council of Altoona, PA reversed course and voted to rehang a Ten Commandments plaque in its city hall, where it hung for 75 years.
A.P. (2): “After a year of debate, the City Council has reversed course and voted to rehang a Ten Commandments plaque in City Hall… where it hung for 75 years.” Gannon: “Councilman Wayne Hippo introduced the amendment, saying that a ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia and a subsequent ruling in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh reinforced the notion that the Ten Commandments were not necessarily a religious display.”
A.P. (2): “Councilman Wayne Hippo introduced the amendment, saying that a ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia and a subsequent ruling in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh reinforced the notion that the Ten Commandments were not necessarily a religious display.”
Gannon: “The Snohomish County Council of Washington state has given its unanimous support for the town of Everett's Ten Commandments monument, the subject of a federal lawsuit. In a 5-0 vote County Council members passed a resolution supporting the city's efforts to keep the 6-foot-tall granite monument bearing the Ten Commandments.”
A.P. (3): “The Snohomish City Council has given its unanimous support for Everett's Ten Commandments monument, the subject of a federal lawsuit In a 5-0 vote Wednesday, County Council members passed a resolution supporting the city's efforts to keep the 6-tall granite monument bearing the Ten Commandments.”
Gannon: “Last month, a Washington, DC-based group sued the city of Everett for refusing to remove the monument from city property.”
A.P. (3): “Last month, a Washington, D.C.-based group sued the city of Everett for refusing to remove the monument from city property.”
(Thanks to everyone at everyone at ePluribus, past and present, with special thanks to Susan G., NY Bri, Ryan Fenno, and Charlie Wilson who worked on the articles with me, and Raw Story's John Byrne, who finally helped me get the news out in the blogosphere last year - plus he's the coolest boss I've ever had)
(There's diaries at these sites about the articles: Daily Kos, Booman Tribune, My Left Wing, and ePluribus community so go and recommend if you'd like.)
UPDATE
whoops....i guess business ain't booming at gopusa.com...I don't usually trust Alexa...but check out this comparison of traffic over last two years between gopusa.com and raw story (and note the change in early 2005 after Propagannon broke out...though, of course, most of the big work on Gannon was done at Daily Kos by Susan G. and company and at Americablog - as well as here - Raw Story did it's share, too, with and without me):
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