JEFF JACOBY, one of America's most outspoken and effective wordsmiths, has been put on a four month suspension without pay by the hyper-P.C. Boston Globe. His "crime"? He retold the history of this nation in a way others have retold it since its birth. He used material that was in the public domain and INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIED what he wrote. He, did not, however, attribute these facts to other authors. Were some turns-of-phrase he used similar to other writers? Certainly. But there are only so many variations of words that can be used to describe factual events.

Jacoby's column, in and of itself, cannot be described as a copy of other folks' works. It is fresh; punchy; and, no doubt, brings a tear to even his most staunch ideological enemies. And that, of course, is what Jeff's punishment is really all about. In the past, Jeff had the audacity to question frequently, and with eloquence, what is more and more becoming the accepted norm in this era of moral-revisionism. His views are conservative and based upon his value-system as a Sabbath observant Jew. It is no secret that his co-workers - "colleagues" is hardly the apt word -- at the Globe wanted him purged from his perch for the longest of time, as documented by several media accounts. And as Rod Dreher recently illustrated in the Weekly Standard, the Globe has clearly chosen sides in  this culture war. AND I DO NOT USE THAT TERM LIGHTLY.

Jeff is young, married, and has a child about to start formal education. Make no mistake about it, a four month suspension, even with pay, is not the equivalent of doing detention. In journalism, one's worth only as much as one's credibility. Jeff's enemies are attempting to destroy his ability to practice his craft as a journalist. They are attempting to destroy him professionally. True, a wise man once  said, that you can judge a man by his enemies. But nobody wants to test that adage.

Perhaps the Globe, which already made Jeff's infraction known in an editorial earlier in the week, is overreacting because previous outright plagiarism, most notably by Mike Barnicle and another former staffer. But one wonders what will happen to Jeff's editors, whose job it is to oversee their charges, checking and rechecking facts and sources. On that, the New York Times-owned Globe has been curiously silent.

Are you outraged yet?

In the letter Jeff received Friday afternoon from his higher-ups, he was also told that part of his punishment was for -- get this -- circulating his column to friends and family before it wound up on the Globe's site, which offers the ability to "e-mail a friend." In his Independence Day column, Jeff wrote to his friends and family about how some of what is spreading on the web is factually inaccurate and acknowledged he based his column on some histories by others. He wanted, in other words, to dispel the myths. Unfortunately, space did not allow the note to be included in the print version.

Jeff is hardly your dime store plagiarist.

The Globe's phone number is 617.929.7900. The fax is: 617.929.8690, 617.929.7026 Letters to the Editor:  letter@globe.com. PLEASE keep your letters civil, despite the temptation not to.

I never, EVER use JWR for appeals other than for this webzine. But let me ask you this, dear reader, if you were in  Jeff's position, would you not want help from folks who care?
 
 

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