Boston Globe Columnist and CLT Friend
Jeff Jacoby Suspended
From the CLT Website: Jeff Jacoby
(photo) of the Boston Globe
receives the 7th Warren T. Brookes Award from Barbara Anderson, executive director of CLT.
Isn't it ironic that the Globe's only conservative
columnist has been taken out until the November election! What a coincidence!
Some activists intend to halt their Boston Globe newspaper
subscriptions for four months ... or until Jeff Jacoby is reinstated. I wonder if the liberals will so love this boycott
as much as they embrace their own!
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Chip Ford |
The Boston Globe
Phone number: (617) 929-7900
Fax number: (617) 929-2098
E-Mail Letters to the Editor
Please keep your letters civil, despite the temptation not to.
The Boston Herald
Sunday, July 9, 2000
Globe slaps columnist Jacoby with four-month suspension
by Jose Martinez
Still smarting from the ethical breaches of columnists past,
The Boston Globe suspended Jeff Jacoby for four months without pay over his July 3 column that failed to mention similar
writings about the fates of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Globe Publisher Richard H. Gilman and editorial page editor Renee Loth avoided calling the
column a work of plagiarism but stated that Jacoby should have alerted readers to similar
accounts published elsewhere over the years.
"We cannot look the other way if any of our columnists,
reporters or writers borrow without attribution from the works of others, even in an attempt to improve upon it," Gilman said
in a statement posted Friday in the Globe newsroom.
The Jacoby suspension comes two years after the resignations
of Globe columnists Patricia Smith and Mike Barnicle and, some media critics said, may have been overkill.
"They are way, way overreacting," Dan Kennedy, media critic
for the Boston Phoenix, said. "Smith made things up out of nothing. She made up characters and put words in their mouth.
Barnicle plagiarized stuff outright."
Smith resigned in June 1998; Barnicle resigned two months
later after failing to verify facts in a 1995 column. At the time, Barnicle was under suspension for lifting jokes from
comedian George Carlin's book "BrainDroppings."
Kennedy was one of about 100 recipients of an e-mail of the
column the night before its publication. In his message, Jacoby explains that he wrote the piece to correct inaccuracies in
an anonymous piece on the Founding Fathers' fates that had been widely distributed over the
Internet.
"That shows to me he had no intention of trying to fool
anybody that he was passing off the Internet thing as his own," Kennedy said. "The mistake he made was not putting the same
introduction on his column."
Since Jacoby had never before been accused of breaching the
canons of journalistic ethics, Kennedy figures a published apology in Jacoby's next column would have made up for his
error. However, Boston University communications professor Tobe Berkovitz said
the columnist deserved a public berating by his editors -- and possibly a lesser suspension.
"Considering the recent track record with problems with
columnists at the Globe, I'm not surprised with the action they took," Berkovitz said. "It's strictly because the Globe feels
it has to uphold the purity of their mission and journalistic ethics."
Berkovitz said Jacoby at least admitted his error.
A day after the column ran, Jacoby posted a message on the
Web site MediaNews.Org to
answer reader questions about the source of his information.
"These stories have been repeated so often, and by so many
people, that they have risen to the level of American legend," Jacoby stated. "Which is why it didn't occur to me to take up
valuable space in the column with footnotes or citations to earlier versions."
Jacoby also stated he "cares greatly about accuracy" and
that he double-checked his facts with encyclopedias and history books.
"In retrospect, I wish I had noted in the column that I am
only the latest in a long line to write about the fate of the signers of the Declaration after July 4, 1776," Jacoby wrote.
The Boston Globe
Phone number: (617) 929-7900
Fax number: (617) 929-2098
E-Mail Letters to the Editor
Please keep your letters civil, despite the temptation not to.
The Associated Press
Saturday, July 8, 2000
Boston Globe Suspends Columnist (Jeff Jacoby)
BOSTON (AP) -- The Boston Globe suspended columnist Jeff Jacoby
for four months without pay after concluding he should have alerted readers that one of his columns was
based on similar writings that appeared previously in other publications.
Jacoby's July 3 column, which discussed the fates of the
signers of the Declaration of Independence, amounted to "serious journalistic misconduct," said editorial page editor
Renee Loth and publisher Richard Gilman in Saturday's Globe. They stopped short of calling
Jacoby's column plagiarism.
Jacoby is the third Globe columnist to face major sanctions
in the past two years for alleged ethical violations. Patricia Smith resigned in June 1998 after admitting she fabricated some
characters and quotations. Mike Barnicle resigned in August 1998 after being unable to verify
facts in a 1995 column.
The column by Jacoby, a conservative voice on the Globe's
traditionally liberal op-ed pages, discussed the often severe consequences many of the signers suffered after putting their
signature to the Declaration of Independence.
"We cannot look the other way if any of our columnists,
reporters, or writers borrow without attribution from the works of others, even in an attempt to improve upon it," Gilman said.
Jacoby said in a message posted on Jim Romenesko's MediaNews
Web site that the theme of his column is an old one, and it didn't occur to him to cite earlier versions.
"In retrospect, I wish I had noted in the column that I am
only the latest in a long list to write about the fate of the signers," he wrote.
The Globe reported that a mitigating factor in Jacoby's
favor was an e-mail he circulated on July 2 stating the column was an attempt to correct errors in a similar piece on the
Internet.
In a brief interview with the Globe, Jacoby said, "I've got
6 1/2 years of columns behind me, and I invite anybody to judge my integrity and the care that I take in my work from the body
of work I've produced."
Noting that his views are at odds with the paper's more
liberal opinion pages, Jacoby added, "I've been aware from the outset that I have to be extremely aware of my column." Asked
if the suspension was harsh, Loth said, "We considered mitigating factors as well as the blow
this is to the Globe's credibility, and we came up with a balanced response that's
proportionate."
The Boston Globe
Phone number: (617) 929-7900
Fax number: (617) 929-2098
E-Mail Letters to the Editor
Please keep your letters civil, despite the temptation not to.
Jeff Jacoby's Response
To all:
Several readers of my recent column on the signers of
the Declaration of Independence have pointed out that these stories have been written about before. A few
have wondered about my sources for this material. Still others have written to assure me that everything in the
column has long since been debunked. Worst of all, some readers charged me with
plagiarizing the column from, variously, Rush Limbaugh, Paul Harvey, and even an
anonymous e-mail that has been circulating on the Internet.
Limbaugh, Harvey, and the anonymous e-mailer have
indeed commented on the fates of some of the signers, as have American writers, orators, and historians for
almost 200 years. Many books have been published with the title "Signers of the Declaration of Independence"
or something very similar. In 1829, Rev. Charles Goodrich published "Lives of the Signers to
the Declaration of Independence" (much of which has been reproduced online). Eight years
earlier, John Sanderson had produced "Lives of the Signers." In 1859, B.J. Lossing wrote
"Biographical Sketches of the Signers of the Declaration of American Independence." More
recently, Dorothy McGee's "Famous Signers of the Declaration" appeared in 1955;
Katherine and John Bakeless's "Signers of the Declaration" was published in 1969; and
Meldrim Thomson, the former governor of New Hampshire, Meldrim Thomson, wrote "100
Famous Founders" in 1992. And there are many more. I know this from consulting online
inventories of booksellers, as well as from the extensive bibliography that appears at
James
Elbrecht's remarkable site on the myths and facts surrounding the signers -- a
site I wish I had learned of before doing this column.
In short, whatever-happened-to-the-signers is an old,
old theme in American inspirational writing. It didn't start with Paul Harvey, Rush Limbaugh, or the author of that
nameless e-mail. And it won't end with me. These stories have been repeated so often, and by so many
people, that they have risen to the level of American legend. Which is why it didn't occur to
me to take up valuable space in the column with footnotes or citations to earlier
versions (many of which I didn't know about when I was writing.)
As a columnist, I don't undertake original historical
research, but I care greatly about accuracy. Knowing that previous treatments of the lives-of-the-signers
theme contained mistakes and exaggerations, I tried to take pains not to repeat anything untrue. As best as I
could given the constraints of a deadline, I double-checked the biographical information I
had, using encyclopedias of American history, books on the American Revolution, and
relevant web sites, such as the one at www.colonialhall.com. That enabled me to
eliminate several falsehoods that earlier versions of this subject had repeated, such as the myth that five
signers were captured by the British and tortured to death for endorsing the Declaration.
(Five signers were captured, but none was tortured or died in captivity.) I have since
learned from Elbrecht's detailed research that I have unwittingly perpetuated some of the myths
myself. (For instance, Thomas Nelson did not, on the evidence of his will, die a pauper, and
the home occupied by the British during the Battle of Yorktown was not his but that of his
uncle, who bore the same name.)
In retrospect, I wish I had noted in the column that I am
only the latest in a long line to write about the fate of signers of the Declaration after July 4, 1776. I would
certainly urge anyone who is interested in knowing more about the subject to read some of the longer and more
detailed works that have been written about them.
Sometimes a newspaper column conveys all that needs
to be said on a topic. At other times, like this one, a column can only scratch the surface.
Sincerely,
Jeff Jacoby
Posted July 4, 2000
The Boston Globe
Phone number: (617) 929-7900
Fax number: (617) 929-2098
E-Mail Letters to the Editor
Please keep your letters civil, despite the temptation not to.
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky,
Editor in Chief,
JewishWorldReview.com
I AM OUTRAGED --- AND YOU SHOULD BE, TOO!
JEFF JACOBY, one of America's most outspoken and effective
wordsmiths, has been put on a four month suspension without pay by the hyper-P.C. Boston Globe. His "crime"? He retold the
history of this nation in a way others have retold it since its birth. He used material that was in the public domain and
INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIED what he wrote. He, did not, however, attribute these facts to other
authors. Were some turns-of-phrase he used similar to other writers? Certainly.
But there are only so many variations of words that can be used to describe factual events.
Jacoby's column, in and of itself, cannot be described as a
copy of other folks' works. It is fresh; punchy; and, no doubt, brings a tear to even his most staunch ideological enemies.
And that, of course, is what Jeff's punishment is really all
about. In the past, Jeff had the audacity to question frequently, and with eloquence, what is more and more becoming
the accepted norm in this era of moral-revisionism. His views are conservative and based upon his value-system as a Sabbath
observant Jew. It is no secret that his co-workers "colleagues" is hardly the apt word -- at the Globe wanted
him purged from his perch for the longest of time, as documented by several media accounts. And as Rod
Dreher recently illustrated in the Weekly Standard, the Globe has clearly chosen sides in
this culture war. AND I DO NOT USE THAT TERM LIGHTLY.
Jeff is young, married, and has a child about to start
formal education. Make no mistake about it, a four month suspension, even with pay, is not the equivalent of doing
detention. In journalism, one's worth only as much as one's credibility. Jeff's enemies are attempting to destroy his
ability to practice his craft as a journalist. They are attempting to destroy him professionally. True, a wise man once
said, that you can judge a man by his enemies. But nobody wants to test that adage.
Perhaps the Globe, which already made Jeff's infraction
known in an editorial earlier in the week, is overreacting because previous outright plagiarism, most notably by Mike
Barnicle and another former staffer. But one wonders what will happen to Jeff's editors, whose job it is to oversee their
charges, checking and rechecking facts and sources. On that, the New York Times-owned Globe has been
curiously silent.
Are you outraged yet?
In the letter Jeff received Friday afternoon from his
higher-ups, he was also told that part of his punishment was for -- get this -- circulating his column to friends and family
before it wound up on the Globe's site, which offers the ability to "e-mail a friend." In his Independence Day column,
Jeff wrote to his friends and family about how some of what is spreading on the web is factually inaccurate and acknowledged
he based his column on some histories by others. He wanted, in other words, to dispel the myths. Unfortunately,
space did not allow the note to be included in the print version.
Jeff is hardly your dime store plagiarist.
The Globe's phone number is 617.929.7900. The fax is:
[(617) 929-2098] Letters to the Editor: letter@globe.com. PLEASE keep your letters civil,
despite the temptation not to.
I never, EVER use JWR for appeals other than for this
webzine. But let me ask you this, dear reader, if you were in Jeff's position, would you not want help from folks who care?
The Boston Globe
Phone number: (617) 929-7900
Fax number: (617) (617) 929-2098
E-Mail Letters to the Editor
Please keep your letters civil, despite the temptation not to.
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