BOSTON GLOBE COLUMNIST SUSPENDED

By: Dave Astor 'Journalistic Misconduct' Cited



The Boston Globe suspended opinion columnist Jeff
Jacoby for four months without pay for what it described as
'serious journalistic misconduct.'



The Globe said Jacoby, in a column on the fate of the
men who signed the Declaration of Independence, should have
noted that the piece was based on content previously appearing
in other publications, books, and on the Web.



'We cannot look the other way if any of our columnists,
reporters, or writers borrow without attribution from the
works of others, even in an attempt to improve upon it,'
Globe publisher Richard Gilman said in a statement.



Jacoby wrote that nine of the 56 Declaration signers died
during the Revolution, five were captured by the British, 18
had their homes looted or burned, etc. While Jacoby didn't
address this in his piece, historians differ on whether so
many signers paid quite so harsh a price.



The columnist could not be reached for comment, but discussed
his situation in remarks that can be seen on the Web (Poynter.org has several
links about the suspension). He said, 'No one deserves to lose
his income for a third of a year because a column lacked a
sentence that might have underscored how common the column's
theme was.'



Jacoby is the third Globe columnist to face major
sanctions in the past two years. Previously, Patricia Smith
and Mike Barnicle were forced to resign for separate incidents
of fabrications in their columns.





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Dave Astor (dastor@editorandpublisher.com) is a senior editor at E&P.









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