Plagiarism is like drug use. When you get caught, you admit to it, but claim it was only that one time.
The difference with plagiarism is that the evidence of previous transgressions – the needles, the bong resin – are out in the world, published for anyone with access to Google to find.
Such is the case of Gerald Posner, the defamed Daily Beast writer who quit after multiple allegations of plagiarism surfaced.
At the time, Posner contended that the plagiarism was inadvertent, a result of “shifting from that of a book writer – with two years or more on a project – to what I describe as the ‘warp speed of the net.’”
Now we come to find that Posner plagiarized as a book writer, too.
Gerald Posner, whose many books include "Case Closed" and "Secrets of the Kingdom," said in an interview with The Associated Press that a flawed research methodology for "Miami Babylon," a nonfiction work released last fall by Simon & Schuster, led him to use text from Frank Owen's "Clubland" without giving proper credit.
"If you use something from another book, a statement from another book, it needs to be in quotations, or if you take something and put it in your own syntax and grammar, you still need to cite it," Posner said Wednesday, adding that he would revise the material in question and would check the rest of the book for possible problems."I do think that the Frank Owen situation may be unique for me. Without going through every line I can't be 100 percent sure, but I think that is the only case."
David Rosenthal, executive vice president and publisher of Simon & Schuster, said in a statement Wednesday: "We are reviewing the situation and discussing the issues with the author."
More to read:
Admitting Plagiarism, Posner Resigns From the Daily Beast
The Cautionary Tale of Gerald Posner
