An alert reader pointed us to an apology contained in the Dec 31 issue of the Weekly Standard. The magazine admits that an article by David Satter contained “several passages…taken without attribution from Jonas Bernstein’s articles in the Eurasia Daily Monitor.” The magazine avoids the “p” word, but does include an example of an offending passage. The apology:
SEVERAL PASSAGES in David Satter’s “Russia Incorporated” (December 17) were taken without attribution from Jonas Bernstein’s articles in the Eurasia Daily Monitor, published by the Jamestown Foundation. For instance–
Bernstein: “For now, however, Putin appears to be trying to maintain a balance between the warring factions: After Cherkesov’s article appeared in Kommersant, Putin publicly scolded him, telling Kommersant that it is ‘wrong to bring these kinds of problems to the media’ and that someone who claims a war between security agencies is going on ’should, first of all, be spotless.’ Yet the following day, Putin created a new state committee to fight illegal drugs and named Cherkesov as its chief” (Eurasia Daily Monitor, Nov. 2, 2007).
Satter: “Putin appears to be trying to maintain a balance between the warring sides. After Cherkesov’s article appeared in Kommersant, Putin publicly criticized him, saying it is ‘wrong to bring these kinds of problems to the media.’ Yet the following day, Putin created a new state committee to fight illegal drugs and named Cherkesov as its chief.”
THE WEEKLY STANDARD and the author apologize to Mr. Bernstein, to the Jamestown Foundation, and to our readers. We also commend to our readers the articles by Mr. Bernstein that served as source material: “Finansgroup: How Russia’s Siloviki Do Business,” EDM, Nov. 30, 2007; “Stanislav Belkovsky: Putin Will Leave Power Completely,” EDM, Nov. 19, 2007; and “St. Petersburg Poisonings: Part of Siloviki Factional Fight?” EDM, Nov. 2, 2007. All of these may be found at the Eurasia Daily Monitor website, www.jamestown.org/edm.
An apology is good, but the Weekly Standard doesn’t say anything about having examined Satter’s previous work for evidence of plagiarism. Did it undertake such an examination?
Thanks, Kevin!
