- Ben Domenech
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Ben Domenech (born December 31, 1981, Jackson, Mississippi)[1] is an American conservative writer and blogger who co-founded the RedState group blog. In March 2006, he was hired to write a conservative blog for washingtonpost.com but resigned after three days amid allegations of plagiarism during his college years.[2] After first denying but then apologizing and ceasing online activity for some time, Domenech returned to continue editing and writing for Redstate, Human Events, and other conservative publications. Domenech is the managing editor for health care policy at The Heartland Institute, the editor of The New Ledger, and hosts a daily free market podcast at BigGovernment.[3]
Contents
Personal
Domenech is the son of Douglas Domenech, the White House Liaison for the Department of the Interior,[4] is a cousin of Puerto Rican Democrat Francisco Domenech, and is descended from Puerto Rican politician, Manuel V. Domenech, former legislator, Mayor of Ponce, Commissioner of the Interior, Treasurer, and acting Governor of Puerto Rico. He was home schooled by his mother using the Calvert School curriculum (and by correspondence for his last three years of high school).[5]
He attended the College of William and Mary between 1999 and 2002. After receiving a job offer from the US Department of Health and Human Services, he left William and Mary before his senior year.[6]
Career
His career in punditry began as a teenager when he began a column, "Any Given Sunday," for National Review Online, in addition to his personal blog.[7] The NRO column recapped political talk shows on television. "If there was a Top 10 list of young Loudoun County people to watch, he'd be on it," a Washington Post reporter wrote in a Loudoun County regional section of the paper. "Domenech is a sharp writer with an obvious command of his national politics beat — especially considering that this is the first year he is eligible to vote".[8]
Domenech said in his Washingtonpost.com bio that he was the youngest political appointee of the George W. Bush administration, although this claim could not be independently verified.[9] He worked as a speechwriter for Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. He has also worked as contributing editor for National Review Online; two years as the chief speechwriter for Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX); and an editor at Regnery Publishing, where he worked on books by Michelle Malkin, Ramesh Ponnuru, and Hugh Hewitt.[10]
The Washington Post received over 1,000 complaints for hiring him.[10] Media Matters also criticized the choice.[11] One line of criticism held that the Post should not have hired a non-journalist conservative partisan blogger—or at least, not without hiring a non-journalist liberal partisan blogger.[citation needed] Another line focused on Domenech's previous writings, including a February 7, 2006 condemnation of deceased civil rights activist Coretta Scott King as a "Communist".[12]) Domenech also was criticized for a post[13] quoting from a First Things article by Richard John Neuhaus[14] about Freakonomics and abortion. In his Washingtonpost.com blog, Domenech apologized for calling King a Communist, describing his lapse as "hyperbole" and defended the item relating to Neuhaus.[15]
Plagiarism
Domenech, who wrote for RedState under the pseudonym "Augustine",[10] was hired by the Washington Post's online arm to write a blog providing "a daily mix of commentary, analysis and cultural criticism".[16] The blog, "Red America", launched on March 21, 2006, but Domenech resigned three days later after only six posts, after other bloggers posted evidence that Domenech had plagiarized work from the Washington Post, The New Yorker, humorist P. J. O'Rourke, and several other writers.[17]
Domenech was first accused of appropriating a chapter from O'Rourke's 1990 book "Modern Manners" for an editorial in The Flat Hat, a weekly student newspaper at William and Mary.[17][18] O'Rourke denied Domenech's claim that the humorist had granted permission to use his words, adding that he could not recall ever meeting the college student.[19] Blogs Eschaton and Daily Kos soon posted links to movie reviews of Bringing Out the Dead, The Bachelor, and The World Is Not Enough written by Domenech for the same student paper. The reviews appear to be taken nearly verbatim from reviews published by Salon.com and an amateur Usenet reviewer named Steve Rhodes.[citation needed]
The Flat Hat investigated and eventually concluded that the paper had published 35 articles by Domenech, including 10 with suspicious similarities to works by other authors, including ones by National Review editor Jonah Goldberg.[20][21][22] Commenters at Daily Kos also uncovered two additional examples of plagiarism in reviews written by Domenech for National Review Online in 2000 and 2001. The first finding, a review of the movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, contained a lengthy passage nearly identical to one by Steve Murray of the Cox News Service.[23] The second, a review of a Wallflowers' album, borrowed passages from one published in Rolling Stone by Tom Moon earlier the same month.[24]
On March 24, 2006, the editors of National Review confirmed on its blog The Corner[25] that Domenech appeared to have plagiarized for at least one article he had written for that publication:
As the previous links on the matter mention, at least one of the pieces Ben Domenech is accused of having plagiarized was a movie review for National Review Online. A side-by-side comparison to another review of the same film speaks for itself. There is no excuse for plagiarism and we apologize to our readers and to Steve Murray of the Cox News Service from whose piece the language was lifted. With some evidence of possible problems with other pieces, we're also looking into other articles he wrote for NRO.
Still later, National Review announced that they had confirmed three other instances of apparent plagiarism. Side-by-side comparisons published on the site indicated that Domenech had also lifted phrases from Rolling Stone, the Dallas Morning News, and other sources.[26]
Resignation
At 1:17 p.m. ET on March 24, 2006, Washington Post online editor Jim Brady announced Domenech's resignation,[27] explaining:
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.
Domenech initially denied the charges, blaming several different editors for similarities to other articles. The various editors said that they were not responsible for reviews that Domenech represented to them as being original.[citation needed] On March 24, 2006, after resigning but before admitting his guilt, he claimed that "Virtually every other alleged instance of plagiarism that I’ve seen comes from a single semester’s worth of pieces that were printed under my name at my college paper, The Flat Hat, when I was 17".[28] Blogger Glenn Reynolds wrote that bloggers "didn't like him because he was a conservative and he was given real estate at The Washington Post. Their goal was to find something they could use to get rid of him, and they succeeded".[17]
Leave of absence and return
Domenech took a leave of absence from RedState,[when?] but remained on the organization's board.[29] In 2007 he began publishing posts at RedState again.[30] and started a new personal blog, "this is an adventure". During the 2008 election, Domenech wrote multiple columns for Human Events.com[31] and for The Washington Times.[32][33][34][35]
Notes and references
- ^ Domenech's Bio. "I was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and I grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, before moving to Virginia".
- ^ Washington Post online Post.com Blogger Quits Amid Furor, Howard Kurtz. March 25, 2006. According to Kurtz, Jim Brady "said he would have dismissed Domenech if the former Bush administration aide and Republican Senate staffer had not offered to quit first".
- ^ "Coffee and Markets"
- ^ "Domenech Named To White House Post"
- ^ The Flat Hat: Home sweet school A Domenech piece about his home schooling experience. Domenech's father was also active in the home schooling movement Interview with Doug Domenech: Proclaim Liberty
- ^ The Flat Hat Online, Former Flat Hat editor refutes Domenech's rebuttal, Joshua Pinkerton. Article cites Associate Vice President for Public Affairs Bill Walker as saying Domenech left the college without graduating.
- ^ http://www.bendomenech.com
- ^ [1]"An Early Eye for Political Punditry: Teenager's Pointed Views Play in Conservative Circles" feature article (no byline shown on Web page), The Washington Post, Loudoun County Extra (local supplement section), May 7, 2000, first three paragraphs appear on "Free article preview" page at Washington Post Web site, accessed August 30, 2007.
- ^ Red America blog bio on Domenech The bio states "After 9/11, he abandoned the journalism field for a taxpayer-funded life and was sworn in as the youngest political appointee of President George W. Bush".
- ^ a b c LA Times on Domenech affair
- ^ MediaMatters criticizes hiring
- ^ Post on RedState.org
- ^ Post on RedState.org
- ^ First Things article
- ^ [2] Domenech, Ben, "Two quick notes", blog item, Washington Post Web site, March 23, 2007.
- ^ Blog on Washington Post
- ^ a b c New York Times online, Washington Post Blogger Quits After Plagiarism Accusations, Julie Bosman, March 25, 2006.
- ^ What hath Domenech done? citing Original blog entry
- ^ New York Times online, Washington Post Blogger Quits After Plagiarism Accusations, Julie Bosman, March 25, 2006. The Times article quotes O'Rourke as saying, "I wouldn't want to swear in a court of law that I never met the guy," adding "but I didn't give him permission to use my words under his byline, no".
- ^ FlatHat investigates charges
- ^ Domenech appears to have copied three new pieces
- ^ Domenech's college paper reveals more plagiarism
- ^ Post.com Blogger Quits Amid Furor, citing DailyKos post identifying plagiarism published in National Review Online
- ^ Domenech, Continued [The Editors] identifying further plagiarism published in National Review Online
- ^ National Review confirms plagiarism
- ^ NRO Corner link
- ^ Washington Post announces Domenech's resignation
- ^ Domenech's statement on Redstate
- ^ Domenech's apology. See also http://redstate.org/story/2006/3/24/231749/503.
- ^ http://www.redstate.com/stories/5
- ^ Ben Domenech archive on Human Events
- ^ "Sacrificing For Freedom" The Washington Times
- ^ "Conservative Seeds of Destruction" The Washington Times
- ^ "Conservatives to Obamacons" The Washington Times
- ^ "Evolving Standards" The Washington Times
See also
- Journalism scandals
External links
Categories:- American bloggers
- American people of Puerto Rican descent
- People from Virginia
- Living people
- 1981 births
- Human Events people
- The College of William & Mary alumni
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