Independent editor joins Johann Hari row on Twitter

Simon Kelner says his paper had not received any complaints about columnist in 10 years of Johann Hari’s tenure Simon Kelner, the editor-in-chief of the Independent, said on Twitter on Tuesday that his newspaper had not previously received any complaints about interviewer and columnist Johann Hari. Hari was caught up in an online plagiarism row after he said he inserted quotes into interviews that were taken from the subject’s writings and not from the interview itself. Kelner tweeted at about 4.30pm on Tuesday that Hari had “worked at @theIndynews for 10 years” and said that “in that time, we have not had a single complaint about his misrepresenting anyone”. But he did not respond to questions from other Twitter users or the Guardian as to whether he would face any disciplinary action or whether the disputed articles would be reviewed. It is understood that Hari is preparing an article for publication in tomorrow’s Independent in which he intends to respond to the allegations made online. On Monday night Hari, responding with a personal blog post to bloggers who had accused him of plagiarism , said he inserted quotes from their other published work when “I’ve interviewed a writer” and they’ve expressed “an idea or sentiment” more “clearly in writing than in speech”. Kelner’s statement prompted several questions from Twitter users, with @nikkibayley – whose profile describes her as a journalist and copywriter – asking: “But @Simon_Kelner – he’s misrepresenting himself, to US the readers. People did NOT say those things to him & he wrote it as though they did.” Meanwhile @louisebolotin, whose profile describes her as a freelance journalist and author, responded: “@Simon_Kelner well, you have now. Lots of them. Hari has blackened the names of all journalists by making it up on the hoof”. The organisers of the Orwell Prize, a political journalism prize that Hari won in 2008 , said they were consulting with that year’s committee of judges to make them aware of the allegations – and to decide what action, if any, they wished to take. The winner of the Orwell Prize receives £3,000. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”. • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook The Independent Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Independent Print Blogging Digital media Twitter Internet Dan Sabbagh guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 28, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.