Posted: Tuesday 28 June, 2011

As I type, the Johann Hari plagiarism storm is still doing the rounds on Twitter and #interviewsbyhari is still the fourth most popular trending topic on the social network. There are a couple of things that particularly strike me about this. Firstly, that whilst I do have some sympathy for Johann, not necessarily for what he has done, but for the scale of the backlash (and that this could well have a fairly serious impact on his career), it seems the old mantra of live by the sword, die by the sword is fairly relevant. I’m no avid follower of Johann’s every word or action, but I have read a number of his pieces and watched him appear on various panels. In each instance he has been very assured. Very sure. And in so being, he has been incredibly forthright and vicious in attack. Now, this all makes for exciting reading or viewing, but if that’s the role you have created for yourself, you better not slip up, because there are a wealth of people ready to kick you back down again.

Oh, and then there’s twitter. I’m not sure you could have a holier than thou mob. Of all the places to slip up Johann, Twitter was not the place. This is going to be one hell of a kicking from the self proclaimed police force of dubious morality. At least they do it with some wit on occasion.

 

But once again, this makes me think of the wider point of the decline in print journalism. We demand ever dumbed-down but speedy news on demand at the cost of quality. What is it with needing everything right this second? There is a natural flip side to having everything immediately, and that’s quality. Now, I’m not saying this is the reason that Johann copied and pasted his interviews – only he can answer that, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that the practice is a lot more widespread than just Johann. So, consumers, I think you might have to live by the sword and die by the sword too. If you want immediate journalism, at the sake of quality, you better get used to a lot more quickly thrown together pieces, unqualified sources, speculation and nonsense. As it stands, at least Johann took his quotes from qualified sources, rather than speculated blog-fodder.