In 2009, Kamala Harris co-authored a guide referred to as Sensible on Crime: A Profession Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer. Its objective was to stipulate her felony justice insurance policies upfront of her marketing campaign for California lawyer basic.
The guide has attracted the eye of conservative author and activist Christopher Rufo, who contends that Harris and co-author Joan O’C. Hamilton plagiarized a number of passages. Rufo’s evaluation—which depends on the work of Stefan Weber, a famous exposer of plagiarism—finds that there are at the very least 12 sections of the guide through which sentences or whole paragraphs had been copied from one other supply with out correct attribution.
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“Taken in complete, there’s definitely a breach of requirements right here,” writes Rufo. “Harris and her co-author duplicated lengthy passages practically verbatim with out correct quotation and with out citation marks, which is the textbook definition of plagiarism. They not solely lifted materials from sources with out correct attribution, however in at the very least one case, relied on a low-quality supply, which probably undermined the accuracy of their conclusion.”
Readers could disagree concerning the severity of some features of the plagiarism: Harris borrowing from her personal work or not paraphrasing sufficiently. However there are extra hanging examples of whole passages being lifted from different sources with out quotation. That is positively a no-no, and meets the usual definition of plagiarism.
In one other part of the guide, Harris, with out correct attribution, reproduced intensive sections from a John Jay School of Prison Justice press launch. She and her co-author handed off the language as their very own, copying a number of paragraphs nearly verbatim. Right here is the… pic.twitter.com/9FpsxQE8Sz
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) October 14, 2024
Comparable transgressions ended the profession of Harvard College President Claudine Homosexual, who resigned after conservative writers—together with Rufo, however initially The Washington Free Beacon‘s Aaron Sibarium—uncovered quite a few situations of plagiarism in her tutorial work. One can definitely argue that Homosexual, an expert tutorial and chief of probably the most prestigious academic establishment within the nation, ought to be held to the next customary than Harris. However plagiarism is commonly taken significantly when politicians are caught participating in it. Actually, then-Sen. Joe Biden’s first stab at working for president all the way in which again in 1988 got here to an abrupt finish after it was found that he had plagiarized a speech from a British Labor Get together chief.
Certainly, even plagiarism involving merely quasi-political attracts appreciable media consideration. In 2016, Melania Trump gave a speech on the Republican Nationwide Conference, a bit of which contained phrasing that was much like a earlier speech made by Michelle Obama. The media didn’t maintain again. In recapping the incident, Vox reported that the plagiarism episode was “one of many largest tales” from the RNC, and that the Trump marketing campaign’s refusal to handle it had “made a foul scenario worse.” Vox even questioned whether or not the plagiarism allegations would “injury Trump’s picture with voters,” a priority that appears downright quaint.
CNN had a discipline day with the story, publishing half a dozen articles and movies about it, that includes side-by-side comparisons of Melania’s and Michelle’s remarks. The Related Press reported that plagiarism had marred Melania Trump’s second. The Washington Publish didn’t maintain again, describing the Trump marketing campaign’s protection of Melania as ridiculous. (The phrase “ridiculous” truly seems twice in the identical headline.) The upper training information website Inside Larger Ed, an authority on plagiarism, wrote that “Sure, It Was Plagiarism” and the “scandal should not be trivialized.” The plagiarism allegation had been lined by NPR, The New Yorker, The Guardian, the BBC, and naturally, The New York Occasions: “How Melania’s Speech Veered Off Course and Triggered an Uproar,” learn one Occasions headline.
One would possibly anticipate plagiarism allegations towards an precise presidential candidate—relatively than their partner—would advantage related or higher outrage from the media. However the Harris allegations haven’t attracted practically the identical degree of curiosity. Actually, their ire is directed not at Harris for plagiarizing however at Rufo for uncovering it.
CNN’s report on the Harris plagiarism accusation is headlined: “Conservative activist accuses Harris of plagiarizing passages in co-authored 2009 guide.” Observe that the identification of the accuser—of the plagiarism discoverer—was not at subject within the Melania Trump case. However right here, mainstream media feels compelled to place Rufo relatively than Harris on the middle of the controversy.
Conservatives complain ceaselessly—and never with out purpose—that scandals involving Republicans, conservatives, and Trump world personalities are reported in simple style, whereas scandals involving Democrats, liberals, and the media itself should not. In these latter instances, the media focuses on the motivations, agendas, and responses of conservatives who’re concerned in surfacing the controversy. That is typically carried out, in headlines, utilizing the precise phrasing Republicans pounce on X or Republicans seize on X, the place X is the factor Democrats did fallacious.
That is such a well-worn trope by now the one might need anticipated mainstream media establishments to take higher pains to keep away from it, if solely to deprive conservatives of ammunition. And but The New York Occasions write-up of the Harris plagiarism accusations is headlined: “Conservative Activist Seizes on Passages From Harris Ebook.”
The article itself minimizes the extent of Harris’ wrongdoing, and cites a plagiarism knowledgeable, Jonathan Bailey, who claims that Rufo was “making a giant deal” out of comparatively minor transgressions. The Occasions didn’t share with him the total checklist of plagiarized passages within the guide, nevertheless; on his web site, Bailey famous that after reviewing all the allegations, the case is “extra critical” than he first thought, though he maintains Harris didn’t interact in “wholesale fraud.”
It is completely advantageous for journalists to report on the agendas of conservative activists making such claims; Rufo doesn’t deny that he’s politically motivated; quite the opposite, he consistently explains his agenda, and technique for implementing it, in posts on X. However maybe The New York Occasions would possibly think about whether or not the pouncing and the seizing are crucial elements of this story.
Amber Duke returns to this system! We talk about Harris’ Fox Information interview, Whoopi Goldberg’s protection of Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton’s zeal for social media censorship, whether or not Venezuelan gangs are taking up house buildings, and the media response to the plagiarism accusations.
I stuffed in for Emily Jashinsky on her present, Undercurrents, and interviewed journalist Ken Klippenstein about his suspension from X and a latest encounter with the FBI. Watch right here:
???? Visitor host @robbysoave is joined by @kenklippenstein to debate why the FBI believed he was the goal of a overseas affect operation. pic.twitter.com/Q9QP8sInp8
— Undercurrents (@UndercurrentsTV) October 17, 2024
