REQUIEM FOR A PLAGIARIST: The same week that saw the release of Jayson Blair’s book (no, that disgrace to my profession will never get a link from me), another serial practitioner of journalistic misconduct is going back to work: Mike Barnicle, bounced from the Boston Globe six years ago after numerous questions were raised about his practice of making up sources and lifting jokes from George Carlin, has a new gig, writing a twice-weekly column for the rival Boston Herald. Barnicle has spent the last few years writing a sporadic column for the New York Daily News and, somewhat inexplicably, serving as Chris Matthews’ primary substitute on “Hardball.”
Boston media expect Dan Kennedy, who broke the story, has got more, including the very true observation that “the Herald could have hired Barnicle any time during the past five-plus years. It's just that, until now, the paper's standards were too high.”