Another Margaret Wente error…

…to add to the last column (and the growing list).

In yet another article on the 'death of men, Wente writes:  

“Male” jobs disappeared and, when men couldn’t find other “male” jobs, they gave up. Millions of men also went on disability, which has become a runaway welfare program for the American middle and working class. (In some months recently, more U.S. men have gone on disability than found work.) And the decline of men has closely tracked the rise of women.

Fox News:  More Americans went on disability than found jobs over the last three months, according to fresh figures crunched by the Senate Budget Committee. 

Despite the Republican ‘war on women’, last time we looked “Americans” meant both genders.  




In fact, if Wente had wanted to contribute something original to the countless other articles on this topic (or the long Rosin interview in last Saturday's Globe), she might have wondered if the that 'war on women' has anything to do with the gender job situation.  But that would have required some thought.  

In the meantime, perhaps The Globe could do their part to address the situation by hiring a young male editor for Margaret.

Correction please.

Margaret Wente “should appall us all”

Sloppy again.  Yes, yes, we know – Margaret Wente pays for her hobby farm in part by drawing cartoons of ‘elite’ environmentalists, like Naomi Klein, who – she suggests today - are making “children go blind or die” in parts of the third world.

All too often, as was the case with her fisherman, her Occupy protester John, or her Québec student protester, the people quoted in Wente’s articles are not who she claims they are.  Today she writes that Greenpeace:

“has lots of allies, including luminaries such as Naomi Klein and groups such as the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, whose mission is ‘collaborative campaigning for food sovereignty and environmental justice.’ These groups insist that what the poor really need is utopian political solutions. ‘Food insecurity is brought about by lack of enough land, by decreasing rice production and decreasing incomes,” says one Golden Rice opponent. ‘Only through a genuine land reform which ensures farmers’ access to sufficient rice and other food sources will farmers start to become healthy again.’”

Unfortunately, the person whose quote she borrows (without attribution or identification) is not a Western luminary like Naomi Klein.  He is a peasant farmer from the Philippines: 

“Farmers and church people from the municipalities of Pototan and Zarraga oppose the introduction of Genetically Modified Rice into their respective municipalities...PAMANGGAS (United Peasants in Panay and Guimaras) Secretary General Chris Chavez stressed that Vitamin-A deficiency amongst Filipinos is not the farmer’s sole problem. ‘Most of us are also deficient from zinc, folate, B1 and B12, and calcium.’ The problem hence is multiple micronutrient deficiency.

Chavez also added that the main cause of farmers’ malnourishment is food insecurity. ‘Food insecurity brought about by lack of enough land, by decreasing rice production and decreasing incomes.  Only through a genuine land reform which ensures farmers’ access to sufficient rice and other food sources will farmers start to become healthy again.’”

Factual and attribution errors on Wente’s part are simply too frequent (browse the archives, including yesterday’s sampler).  Had Wente identified the speaker in this case, she wouldn’t have made the error.  Unless, of course, she wanted to mislead readers.

Perhaps Wente should argue for the introduction of GMO seed around her country estate.  But if she wants to force it on Filipino peasants, she should at least acknowledge their opposition by properly identifying them.

Plagiarism and Margaret Wente (reprise)

Today’s column doesn’t amount to much - just a few quotes, in the same order, as a previous column by Irwin Cotler in the Montréal Gazette.

Wente: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad describes Israel as an "insult to humanity" and "a cancerous tumour," and calls for its "disappearance."



Cotler …. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who characterized Israel as an "insult to humanity" and "a cancerous tumour" while calling, yet again, for its "disappearance."



It’s the context – a brief glimpse of which can be had from a few examples below (taken from more extensive ones).  In many of these the overlap is not confined to quotes, and it's a legitimate question as to whether it constitutes proper attribution.

Wente: "delivering formal property rights to poor people can bring them out of the sway of demagogues and into the modern global economy…"



Cato Institute: "Delivering formal property rights to the poor can bring them out of the sway of demagogues and into the extended order of the modern global economy".



Wente: "For his challenge to the status quo, the Shining Path, the Peruvian Marxist terrorist group, targeted him for assassination. His offices were bombed and his car was machine-gunned. Today, the Shining Path is moribund, and Mr. de Soto continues his passionate mission".



Cato Institute: "For his efforts, the Peruvian Marxist terror group Shining Path targeted him for assassination. The institute's offices were bombed. His car was machine-gunned. Today the Shining Path is moribund, but de Soto remains very much alive and a passionate advocate…"



***

Wente and Helen Rumbelow, Sunday Times (prose overlap in bold):

Wente: one of the world's most authoritative sources of breastfeeding research is Michael Kramer, Professor of Pediatrics at Mcgill university. "The public health breastfeeding promotion information is way out of date," he says. The trouble is that the breastfeeding lobby is at war with the formula milk industry, and neither side is being very scientific. "When it becomes a crusade, people are not very rational."

Rumbelow: ...one of the world's most authoritative sources of breastfeeding research: Michael Kramer, Professor of Paediatrics at Mcgill University, Montreal.

..."The public health breastfeeding promotion information is way out of date," Kramer says. The trouble is, he said, that the breastfeeding lobby is at war with the formula milk industry, and "neither side is being very scientific ... when it becomes a crusade, people are not very rational."

***

Wente and the New York Times:

Wente: …But it hasn't worked out that way, Mr. West writes. Instead, what we've built is a vast cultural dependency. Americans and Canadians are fighting and dying while the Afghans by and large stand by and do nothing to help them.

Dexter Filkins: …This isn’t happening. What we have created instead, West shows, is a vast culture of dependency: Americans are fighting and dying, while the Afghans by and large stand by and do nothing to help them.

***

Wente and Stephen Pinker, New York Times: Leaving aside side a short section in quotes, some of Pinker’s analysis and wording (see sections in bold), are not included in quotation marks.

Wente: Mr. Pinker… wrote: “The common thread in Gladwell's writing is a kind of populism, which seeks to undermine the ideals of talent, intelligence and analytical prowess in favour of luck, opportunity, experience and intuition” – explaining his appeal to both the Horatio Alger right (Mr. Gladwell is extremely popular on the Dilbert circuit) and the egalitarian left.

Pinker, NYT: The common thread in Gladwell’s writing is a kind of populism, which seeks to undermine the ideals of talent, intelligence and analytical prowess in favor of luck, opportunity, experience and intuition… this has the advantage of appealing both to the Horatio Alger right and to the egalitarian left.

Earlier in the same NYT piece, Pinker had used the expression Wente places in parentheses, but not in quotation marks - a popular speaker on the Dilbert circuit.

Wente doesn’t summarize Gladwell’s wide ranging and eclectic book herself –  she uses Pinker’s words and ideas:

Wente: Mr. Gladwell claims that cognitive skills don't predict success, that intelligence scores do not relate closely to job performance and that above a minimum iq of 120, higher intelligence doesn't bring greater intellectual achievements.

Pinker, NYT: It is simply not true that… cognitive skills don’t predict a teacher’s effectiveness, that intelligence scores are poorly related to job performance or… that above a minimum i.q. of 120, higher intelligence does not bring greater intellectual achievements.

***

Or this recent example, where Ms. Wente appears to use unattributed material gathered by a live blogger at a lecture by Robert Putnam: 

Wente:  “’We’re about to go over a cliff when it comes to social mobility,’ he says. ‘Social mobility and opportunity [for kids who grow up in the bottom third of society] are going to plummet.’”

Weinberg, quoting Putnam:  “If we look out the windshield, we’re about to go over a cliff when it comes to social mobility…Social mobility and opportunity are going to plummet.”

Wente:  “’Over the last two decades or so, white kids coming from less educated, less well-off backgrounds are more and more going through life with only one parent at home,’ he says. These kids are disaffected and disconnected from a very early age. ‘There’s a growing class gap among American youth among all the predictors of success in life’.”

Weinberg:  “Over the last two decades or so, white kids coming from less educated, less well-off backgrounds are more and more going through life with only one parent at home.”

“There’s a growing class gap among American youth among all the predictors of success in life.”

Wente: “As Mr. Putnam said at Aspen, ‘I happen to think that hugs and time are more important than money.’ (He added that money is important too.)”

***

We won’t belabor the point with more  – like the damning example of the fake Occupy protester John, or the Maureen Dowd example here.  Some were addressed by Editor's Notes or corrections.  But it’s interesting to compare these (and others) with any number of instances where journalists have been cited for plagiarism or improper attribution. 

Éminence grise and the Grey Lady

Gee, wonder who wrote this Globe and Mail editorial about Canada’s decision to sever diplomatic relations with Iran?

Particularly this bit:

 “Cardinal Richelieu devoted a chapter of his Testament politique to the imperative of continuous negotiation, stating, ‘I may venture to say boldly that to negotiate without ceasing, openly or secretly, in all places, and though no present benefits accrue, nor any prospects of future advantage present itself, is what is absolutely necessary for the good and welfare of States.’”

I mean, who has Richelieu quotes to hand at a moment’s notice?  And why not argue for strategic marriages between heads of state, an equally important aspect of 17^th century diplomacy?

Curious, we googled, and couldn’t find that translation in readily available editions. 

But the same translation, in a very similar introductory sentence, appears in a 2009 article by Mark Lamster about Peter Paul Reubens and Obama.  Titled, “Lessons for the President on the Art of Diplomacy” the Huffington Post piece is excerpted from Lamster’s book Master of Shadows – about the famous 17^th century Flemish artist turned diplomat.  The complete quote from the book (with ellipsis filled in) is this:

“Cardinal Richelieu, the French statesman who was one of Rubens's most persistent adversaries, devoted an entire chapter of his influential Testament Politique to the utility of continuous negotiations. ‘I may venture to say boldly,’ he wrote, ‘that to negotiate without ceasing, openly or secretly, in all places, and that although no present benefit shall accrue from it, nor any prospect of future advantage present itself, is what is absolutely necessary for the good and welfare of States.’"

Here’s the translation - via google books – of the University of Wisconsin (1964) edition:

“….I dare say emphatically that it is absolutely necessary to the well-being of the state to negotiate ceaselessly, either openly or secretly, and in all places, even in those from which no present fruits are reaped and still more in those from which no future prospects as yet seem likely.”

Good to know the Globe doesn’t devote too much time to its rare instances of pompous finger-wagging at the Harper government.  After all, they’ll come out and support those same policies again next election.

Self-plagiarism, recycling and fabrication: different approaches

Weeks after it was revealed that he had used recycled material, The New Yorker’s Jonah Lehrer has resigned after admitting that he also fabricated quotes from Bob Dylan.

The attention given to Lehrer’s recycling was interesting, given former MacLean’s writer Mark Steyn's frequent self-plagiarism.  (See here, here, and here).

As for Lehrer’s invented Dylan quotes, Steyn has yet to explain the discrepancy between a quote that appeared in the Toronto Star and his own version. 

Is it possible that there’s more tolerance for these things in Canadian, versus American journalism?  Perhaps that’s what Margaret Wente’s invented Occupy protester "John", and other examples here,  here,  here,  and here would  indicate.

As for Steyn’s recycling habit, my favorite very short example is “that flat in Marseilles” (in which only the punch line changes):

Steyn, UK Telegraph, 2005:

…a fellow in Marseilles is being charged with fraud because he lived with the dead body of his mother for five years in order to continue receiving her pension of 700 euros a month.

She was 94 when she croaked, so she'd presumably been enjoying the old government cheque for a good three decades or so, but her son figured he might as well keep the money rolling in until her second century and, with her corpse tucked away under a pile of rubbish in the living room, the female telephone voice he put on for the benefit of the social services office was apparently convincing enough. As the Reuters headline put it: "Frenchman lived with dead mother to keep pension."

That's the perfect summation of Europe: welfare addiction over demographic reality. Think of Germany as that flat in Marseilles, and Mr Schröder's government as the stiff, and the country's many state benefits as that French bloke's dead mum's benefits…

Steyn, America Alone, 2006, page 112-113:

A fellow in Marseilles was charged with fraud because he lived with the dead body of his mother for five years in order to continue receiving her pension of 700 euros a month.

She was ninety-four when she croaked, so she'd presumably been enjoying the old government check for a good three decades or so, but her son figured he might as well keep the money rolling in until her second century and, with her corpse tucked away under a pile of rubbish in the living room, the female telephone voice he put on for the benefit of the social services office was apparently convincing enough. As the Reuters headline put it: "Frenchman Lived with Dead Mother to Keep Pension."

That's the perfect summation of Europe: welfare addiction over demographic reality. Think of the European Union as that flat in Marseilles, and the Eutopian political consensus as the stiff, and lavish government largesse as that French guy’s dead mom's benefits…

Steyn, New York Sun, 2007:

A fellow in Marseilles was charged with fraud because he lived with the dead body of his mother for five years in order to continue receiving her pension of 700 euros a month.

She was 94 when she croaked, so she'd presumably been enjoying the old government check for a good three decades or so, but her son figured he might as well keep the money rolling in until her second century and, with her corpse tucked away under a pile of rubbish in the living room, the female telephone voice he put on for the benefit of the social services office was apparently convincing enough. As the Reuters headline put it: "Frenchman Lived With Dead Mother To Keep Pension."

Think of France as that flat in Marseilles, and its economy as the dead mother, and the country's many state benefits as monsieur's deceased mom's benefits.

Update:   this is how Fareed Zakaria’s plagiarism was dealt with.

Margaret Wente’s sins

Not ‘original’ sins, mind you (Wente is rarely original).  In fact it is possible that her error today about Episcopalians, whom she describes as “the American equivalent of the United Church”, reflects the New York Times article which perhaps inspired her own version.  Ross Douhat’s earlier OpEd on the collapse of the liberal church (“Can Liberal Christianity Be Saved?”) cites the same figures for Episcopalians.

Episcopalians are, of course the American version of Anglicans.  But what the heck – for Margaret’s purposes - a drive-by smear of the United Church - they'll do just as well.

Borrowing from the Times isn’t new for Wente, and errors related to sloppy attribution practices are common.   Best known was "John", but there are more examples here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.  And another just recently. 


Update, Error #2:  Wente writes that Mormonism “requires obligatory missionary service”.  “Missions are voluntary”, says its website.


Update #2:  While it took them a day or two (or three) an Editor's Note was finally appended to the online version of Wente's article: 


The Episcopalian Church in the United States is equivalent to the Anglican Church of Canada and not the United Church. Mormons are strongly encouraged, but not required to do mission work. An earlier online version of this story, and Saturday's original newspaper version, were not clear.


 In addition, it's worth noting the gracious 

response

 from Mardi Tindal of the United Church.   

Censorship, attribution and disclosure at the Globe and Mail

It’s a sad fact that often the most informative (and benign, non offensive) comments by a number of contributors in response to articles by the likes of Margaret Wente or Neil Reynolds are removed.  This often happens to facts which contradict claims in the articles, or which raise uncomfortable questions.

Again today. Information about Ms. Wente and Don Coxe, whom she quotes - was removed:

A potentially interesting (and undisclosed) relationship between Wente and quoted expert Don Coxe who hails from Wente’s home turf – Chicago.  From the acknowledgements section of his 2003 book:

“Those who undertook the arduous task of evaluating the manuscript deserve special thanks, and I appreciate the comments and suggestions I received from Margaret Wente…”

Wente writes:  “’Canada’s mining and oil wealth is not just minerals dug from the ground,’ Don Coxe, a leading investment strategist, points out. ‘It is the managements, geologists, engineers, drillers, workers and investment bankers who staff companies headquartered in Canada that operate across the world.’”

Those quotes Ms. Wente uses in her breathless paean to Canada as an oil and gas superpower appear on page 17 of an older issue of Coxe’s monthly portfolio strategy journal.

It’s interesting to read them in context (particularly when he discusses “Dutch Disease”).  So why is pointing out the relationship, or the source of the quotes worthy of censorship?

And, as is so frequently the case, Ms. Wente’s column includes material that, it’s fair to suggest, might have benefited from attribution.

Concluding her promotion of the Chinese takeover bid of Nexen as “maximizing our opportunities as a global petro-power”, Wente writes, “Wilfrid Laurier was almost right when he said the 20th century belonged to Canada. He was only off by 100 years”.

Key Porter’s promotional blurb for a similar cheerleading book by Brian Lee Crowley et al (which it is reasonable to believe Ms. Wente is familiar with, as it’s up her alley and was covered in the Globe) reads:

“Laurier did indeed predict the Canadian Century. He was absolutely right; he was
merely off by 100 years.”

A clever hook – and perhaps Crowley, Clemens, Key Porter et al don’t mind the additional publicity.

And likely Mr. Coxe, who thanked Ms. Wente for her help, is pleased to see material from his newsletters in her articles.

But again, it’s reasonable to ask, why not simply disclose any relationships and/or attribute the quotes?  And why the routine censorship of information like this?

Update:  A bit more information that might have been disclosed: 

Don Coxe, the only “investment strategist” quoted by Ms. Wente in her gushing endorsement of the proposed takeover of Nexen by CNOOC is described by the Globe in an earlier article as “strategy adviser to BMO Nesbitt Burns”.  

In a more recent Globe business article, BMO Nesbitt Burns is described as advisor to CNOOC in the takeover bid of Nexen:  “BMO Nesbitt Burns and Citigroup advised CNOOC”, the Globe reports.  Again, should this information, like Ms. Wente’s assistance in the writing of Mr. Coxe’s book, have been subject to full disclosure?