I don’t understand how this could happen. Real paid media people are responsible and never take credit for things they didn’t originally produce. Nah… only blogs do that. (Sorry, can’t let it go….)
In the course of reading Chris Anderson’s new book, Free: The Future of a Radical Price (Hyperion, $26.99), for a review in an upcoming issue of VQR, we have discovered almost a dozen passages that are reproduced nearly verbatim from uncredited sources. These instances were identified after a cursory investigation, after I checked by hand several dozen suspect passages in the whole of the 274-page book. This was not an exhaustive search, since I don’t have access to an electronic version of the book. Most of the passages, but not all, come from Wikipedia. Anderson is the author of the best-selling 2006 book The Long Tail and is the editor-in-chief of Wired magazine. The official publication date for Free is July 7.
Funny how being a real industry professional makes people lazy. Whether we’re talking Chris Anderson, Jessica Seinfeld, James Frey, Jayson Blair, Maureen Dowd, or Katie Couric, you can be well paid, plagiarize, and still keep your job. Something just doesn’t seem right here.
h/t Simon Owens
Am I the only one who sees the delicious irony in the book’s title?
reminds me of Mr. Originality..
It seems all things are forgiven when you’re a “professional”. Reminds me of the movie “Man on Fire” with Denzel Washington. How many people involved in the kidnapping claimed “I’m a Professional” as if that was an excuse for what they did? Unfortunately, that mentality has infected the MSM, law enforcement and many politicians as well…..especially the thugs from Chicago.