M. CHARLES BAKST: Barnicle debacle leaves everyone looking terrible
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8.13.98
M. CHARLES BAKST: Barnicle debacle leaves everyone looking terrible |
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You can accuse me of sloppiness and I plead guilty. Intellectual laziness — I plead guilty. Plagiarism — no. - Boston Globe columnist Mike Barnicle, Aug. 11, 1998 It's a heck of a thing when a columnist begs mercy by saying he was only sloppy and lazy. Lots of people would call what Barnicle did — taking credit for someone else's jokes, or passing them along without attribution — plagiarism. I grant you, this is not as heinous as making up characters and quotes, which former Globe columnist Patricia Smith admitted doing. She deserved being shown the door. It may be that a two-month suspension is the right penalty for Barnicle. But try telling that to blacks or women who see a double standard. A black woman columnist who violates journalistic ethics gets thrown out into the cold; a white male who falters and is asked to resign kicks up a fuss, mobilizes supporters and gets to stay. The Globe looks hypocritical and indecisive, and as if it caved to reader and advertiser pressure. I never believed the request for Barnicle's resignation was prompted solely by the "I was just thinking" column in which he passed along jokes from a book by George Carlin. You remember — Barnicle later asserted he got the jokes from pals and didn't realize they'd been in the book, which he said he hadn't read, even though he hyped it on a TV show. Yes, this was very messy. But when the Globe asked him to resign, I thought the paper was seizing on the episode as a convenient way to rid itself of a headache. There long had been questions and accusations, some of them leading to lawsuits and settlements, about the truthfulness of some of Barnicle's writing. Plus, there was the Smith matter and an apparent desire on the part of the Globe to avoid looking like it was giving a white man preferential treatment. I was stunned that Barnicle refused to resign. How can you columnize for a paper that makes it clear it doesn't want you? Being a columnist — having a forum to showcase your views — may be the world's best job. Myrth York, running for governor, told me yesterday that she'd like to have my job, and I'm not sure she was entirely kidding. Columnists don't need a lot of costly equipment and usually don't take up much of the bosses' time. But we do need their trust. They must be willing to put up with the aggravation we inevitably cause. In a book on life at CBS News, Fred Friendly cited the network's killing See It Now, which he produced with Edward R. Murrow. Murrow asked CBS chairman Bill Paley, "Are you going to destroy all this? Don't you want an instrument like the See It Now organization, which you have poured so much into for so long, to continue?" Paley replied, "Yes, but I don't want this constant stomachache every time you do a controversial subject." Murrow said, "I'm afraid that's a price you have to be willing to pay. It goes with the job." It will be interesting, when Barnicle returns, to see how willing the Globe is to stand behind him when things get tough. As for what columnists owe their bosses and readers, the answer is: our best effort, something Barnicle now pledges. The Boston Herald's Joe Fitzgerald was right when he said Barnicle's undoing was "taking it easy." To have a column is to be in charge of valuable real estate. Your photo is here, your name in big type. Folks identify with you. So you try to use the space responsibly. Through research and/or self-examination you come up with something, think it through and try to make it relevant and insightful. You try to take the readers somewhere they haven't been, or to see something in a new way. You don't waste this space or your readers' time on junk. To plagiarize or to fabricate are huge failings. But to be sloppy or lazy isn't far behind. |
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