The New York Post, of all papers, first broke the story online over the weekend with TPM Muckracker following up and keeping the heat on UPS to take the allegation seriously.
The Post reported that John Barrie, the creator of a leading plagiarism-recognition system, claimed he found at least three instances of what he calls "textbook plagiarism" in Coulter's latest bestseller, "Godless: the Church of Liberalism," after he ran the book's text through the company's digital iThenticate program.He also says he discovered verbatim lifts in Coulter's weekly column.
Coulter responded by snapping that "The Post has been reduced to tabloid status" (du-uh) while not actually denying the allegation.
Being no Ann Coulter fan myself, I feel holding off commenting or even taking a stance on this issue until John Barrie provides specific, in context examples of this alleged plagarism. So far, in the article cited, is Barrie's accusation and nothing more. Before I agree or disagree with Barrie's assertions, I want to see the passages, in context, from Coulter's book he claims were plagarized along with the passages, again in context, from the source material from which he accuses Coulter of plagarizing. I also want source materials properly and thoroughly cited. It is then and only then can I properly create an informed opinion on the matter. Otherwise, I feel that logically Barrie's assertions can only be taken with a grain of salt. If there is an online source or sources that will satisfy my criteria, please let me know.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct that at this juncture there seems to be a serious allegation but nothing more. Be rest assurred that Kiko's House will stay on this story.
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