Ben Domenech Resigns

Ben Domenech Resigns
In the past 24 hours, we learned of allegations that Ben Domenech plagiarized material that appeared under his byline in various publications prior to washingtonpost.com contracting with him to write a blog that launched Tuesday.

An investigation into these allegations was ongoing, and in the interim, Domenech has resigned, effective immediately.

When we hired Domenech, we were not aware of any allegations that he had plagiarized any of his past writings. In any cases where allegations such as these are made, we will continue to investigate those charges thoroughly in order to maintain our journalistic integrity.

Plagiarism is perhaps the most serious offense that a writer can commit or be accused of. Washingtonpost.com will do everything in its power to verify that its news and opinion content is sourced completely and accurately at all times.

We appreciate the speed and thoroughness with which our readers and media outlets surfaced these allegations. Despite the turn this has taken, we believe this event, among other things, testifies to the positive and powerful role that the Internet can play in the the practice of journalism.

We also remain committed to representing a broad spectrum of ideas and ideologies in our Opinions area.

Jim Brady
Executive Editor, washingtonpost.com

http://tinyurl.com/qa8ow The Washington Post

You know I don't get it? The last time I plagiarized something was in high school. Asked to write a term paper I simply copied words out of a published book. (I had no idea what plagiarism even was then) I got an 'F' for that paper and learned the meaning of plagiarism for all time.

When I post an article I post the URL of the site I found it on and the sites name or shorty name. I can't understand why people who are suppose to be pros think they can fool people by publishing or otherwise indicating that material not their's belongs to them.

I do call on a lifetime of memories when I'm commenting on something, but I never claim a quote if its not mine. I find that my own sarcastic wit is more a match for any plagiarized material I might use