Just filtering back though the thread and noticed this. Wow. Outrageous hardly covers it. This isn't mere plagiarism, this is out and out false reporting, straightforward lying, just making stuff up. As GM notes, he is claiming here to have done an interview that never happened, including the self-conscious lie that the interviewee "told this writer," details of the interview that never happened ("over a cup of coffee") and quotes from a fictitious "veteran politician/backer of the CoD (who) switched parties." These falsehoods go way way beyond plagiarism.Petrol Head wrote:Kudos to the OP and especially GM. Ive no love for the Daily which seems to be little more than an NGO industry rag most of the time, but this:
... is completely outrageous.gavinmac wrote:
It gets worse. From the T Mohan editorial:
Note that Mohan is actually quoting what a "veteran politician" told him, personally, over a cup of coffee.As one veteran politician, over a cup of coffee, so honestly put it to this writer after backing the Culture of Dialogue and himself having switched parties in the recent past: “You’re not in office for yourself, but for your constituents. It’s a big advantage if you’re with the administration, because they’re the ones in power who can give benefits to your constituents.”
And this is from the same 2013 opinion piece by that Filipino student:
As one congressman so honestly put it after switching parties himself, “You’re not in office for yourself but for your constituents. It’s a big advantage if you’re with the administration because they’re the ones in power who can give benefits to your constituents.”
Khmer Times' T. Mohan's editorial plagiarism pandemic
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Yeah, I think that was the worst one in yesterday's festering pile of plagiarized columns. Mohan writes not just about what the imaginary interviewee told him, but what he told him "so honestly."LTO wrote: Just filtering back though the thread and noticed this. Wow. Outrageous hardly covers it. This isn't mere plagiarism, this is out and out false reporting, straightforward lying, just making stuff up. As GM notes, he is claiming here to have done an interview that never happened, including the self-conscious lie that the interviewee "told this writer," details of the interview that never happened ("over a cup of coffee") and quotes from a fictitious "veteran politician/backer of the CoD (who) switched parties." These falsehoods go way way beyond plagiarism.
The other really bad ones are when he just reads columns about Malaysian politics, then days later he publishes an opinion piece about Cambodian politics that just swaps in the names of Cambodian politicians/parties for the Malaysian ones. What's the point?
Here's one I found today, with another fake interview.
He wrote a column on August 28, 2014 titled "Mr. H*un Sen's Exacting Personality." The column starts like this:
Mohan writes of H*un Sen taking jabs and listing misgivings in point form. He writes of an official having a "deja vu moment" when H*un Sen's "volcano erupted." He QUOTES that official as saying that H*un Sen's volcano had been "boiling for some time" and "he said he is going to say even more."Mr. H*un Sen’s Exacting Personality
Khmer Times/T. Mohan Thursday, 28 August 2014
PHNOM PENH (Khmer Times) – Prime Minister H*un Sen is an exacting man with strong opinions, high expectations, and he speaks his mind when he wants to. That was exactly what he did since the cabinet meeting of July 18 – listing, in point-form – his misgivings about the practices of his cabinet and his administration. He also took jabs at provincial and other local authorities on various issues.
This demand for improvement was missing from Mr. H*un Sen since the run up to the general election in 2013 and the political impasse which finally concluded with the July 22 meeting and agreement with the Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP).
Now that he has started his campaign and his offensive to clean up his administration, people are waiting with suspense as to what would be his next move. Could he start cleaning house at the grass roots level and go right up to the cabinet ministers?
Many feel he should. The rot has to be arrested from the bottom to the top and from the top to the bottom. The rot has to be peeled and shaved slice by slice until he has unearthed his Achilles heel, which nearly cost the CPP the 2013 election.
The day Mr. H*un Sen’s volcano erupted was August 15 and again on August 18 and it carried a deja vu moment.
“It has been boiling for some time. He said he is going to say even more,” said an official who was aware of the frustration building up at the slow pace of reforms and the cheap pot shots taken at the prime minister by “ opposition members” – though not officially the party stance – but through the party’s elected members of parliament who then had immunity with impunity.
Three days earlier, on August 25, 2014, a column was published in the Malaysian newspaper, The Star. It was titled "Mahathir Goes on the Attack." Mahathir Mohamad is Malaysia's former premier. Here is that column:
He's just taking Malaysian news and falsely reporting it as occurring in Cambodia. That's . . . not good.Mahathir is an exacting man with strong opinions and high expectations and he speaks his mind.
That was exactly what he did on Monday, listing down, in point-form, his misgivings about the policies of Najib's administration as well as taking a jab at Najib's political style.
An Umno official who called on Mahathir at his Petronas Twin Tower office the day the Mahathir volcano erupted had a deja vu moment.
The same official had been to see Mahathir at the same office back in 2006 shortly before Mahathir started his attacks against the administration of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
"It has been boiling for some time, he said he is going to write more," said the official.
Note: I added asterisks in H*un Sen's name because we have this stupid restrictions on this website that prevent us from posting his name if spelled correctly.
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This is very damaging. Attributing paraphrased comments and quotes to unnamed/anonymous 'officials, experts, insiders' is a controversial practice used by legit media outlets, often to protect sources. The credibility of the practice relies 100% on the integrity of the journalist, the outlet and the profession. For a publisher and editor (not just some junior reporter) to be caught repeatedly falsifying quotes attributed to unnamed sources is damaging well beyond this one person. It reflects on the outlet and the profession as a whole. This is, as you say, not good.
It's nice they cited the source where these allegations were not only made, but unequivocably proven.
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Gotta feel sorry for Terry for taking the blame for Mohan....
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"As soon as the allegations arose, an investigation began."
First allegations that I am aware of were made by Julia Wallace on Twitter 9 months ago. Apparently the practice continued unabated (and rampantly) until this thread came up on 440 with fresh allegations, making it much more public, and gavin's investigation revealed the ridiculous extent of it. Given that it has been known for months, and that it seems to involve dozens of columns, I gotta wonder what the editors have been doing there all this time.
First allegations that I am aware of were made by Julia Wallace on Twitter 9 months ago. Apparently the practice continued unabated (and rampantly) until this thread came up on 440 with fresh allegations, making it much more public, and gavin's investigation revealed the ridiculous extent of it. Given that it has been known for months, and that it seems to involve dozens of columns, I gotta wonder what the editors have been doing there all this time.
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I guess nothing's proven yet. They are still investigating. Here's a bit more more evidence. Plagiarized column #17.
On September 11, 2014, Mohan wrote an editorial titled "Social Media and its Ills". This was apparently triggered by Mohan and/or the Khmer Times having received an "avalanche of hate comments" on social media.
But why did he start his column by saying "Let me put on record here "also"? Also? That's an odd beginning line.
Anyway, Mohan then describes the Cambodians who have sent him these hateful social media comments.
There's just one problem.
Four days earlier, Wong Chun Wai, the Managing Director of The Star, wrote a column titled "Open to Discussion".
The excerpts, from the middle of Wong Chun Wai's column:
On September 11, 2014, Mohan wrote an editorial titled "Social Media and its Ills". This was apparently triggered by Mohan and/or the Khmer Times having received an "avalanche of hate comments" on social media.
Poor T. Mohan. I guess receiving this type of hate mail from people of all races and religions is part of the burden you must bear when you dedicate your life to the noble cause of journalism.Social Media and Its Ills
Khmer Times/T. Mohan Thursday, 11 September 2014 274 views
PHNOM PENH (Khmer Times) – Let me put on record here also that this writer believes it is necessary to stop the avalanche of hate comments that have flooded our social media by people of all races and religions, who do not seem to care that their careless comments can hurt the feelings of others.
But why did he start his column by saying "Let me put on record here "also"? Also? That's an odd beginning line.
Anyway, Mohan then describes the Cambodians who have sent him these hateful social media comments.
Mohan then discusses how social media abuse might be curbed, before ending the column on a positive note:We are not talking about glory-seeking politicians who know the consequences of their actions. Rather, even ordinary Cambodians think they can say anything they like in cyberspace.
..................
Seriously, most of us would find it difficult to accept that some comments would cause Cambodians to tear one another apart, plunging the country into chaos. Much of what has been posted in numerous web portals, blogs, social media and publications may irritate some quarters. Those comments, however, are petty when compared to the poison being spewed by some individuals who seem to have lost their sense of self-restraint.
Mohan the optimist gets the last laugh on those Cambodians who sent him the avalanche of hate comments. He's in stitches. Good for him.I am an optimist. I like to believe that Cambodians still embrace divergent views in all works of life. The world has changed and, yes, Cambodia too has, is, and will continue to change.
In the course of my work, I have been praised as well as heavily criticized.
I appreciate the views of those who have made me better informed. But some of the views laced with outrageous and personal remarks had me in stitches. I guess it is better to laugh it off than to get angry with these individuals, who cannot be taken seriously.
There's just one problem.
Four days earlier, Wong Chun Wai, the Managing Director of The Star, wrote a column titled "Open to Discussion".
The excerpts, from the middle of Wong Chun Wai's column:
Let me put on record here also that this writer believes the use of the Sedition Act is necessary to stop the avalanche of hate comments that have flooded our social media by people of all races and religions, who do not seem to care that their careless comments can hurt the feelings of others.
We are not talking about glory-seeking politicians who know the consequences of their actions, but even ordinary Malaysians who think they can say anything they like in cyberspace.
Seriously, most of us would find it difficult to accept that Azmi’s two sen’s worth of comments would cause Malaysians to tear one another apart, plunging the country into chaos. Most of what Azmi has written, in many publications and portals, may irritate some quarters, but it is Mickey Mouse stuff compared to the poison being spewed by some individuals who seem to have lost their sense of self-restraint.
I am an optimist. I like to believe that Malaysia still embraces divergent views, more so in our universities. The world has changed and, yes, Malaysia has changed.
In the course of my work, I have been praised as well as heavily criticised.
I appreciate the views of those who have made me better informed. But some of the views laced with outrageous and personal remarks had me in stitches. I guess it is better to laugh it off than to get angry with these individuals.
Last edited by gavinmac on Thu Dec 17, 2015 5:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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I think its because T. Mohan himself was the Editor in charge that the problem continued for so long. Unless I am mistaken, T. Mohan was until today the Editor?LTO wrote:"As soon as the allegations arose, an investigation began."
I gotta wonder what the editors have been doing there all this time.
Mohan was the publisher, not the editor. Jim Brooke was the editor until two weeks ago. Mohan recently appointed Terry Friel as 'acting editor in chief'. He and Vince MacIsaac do most of the heavy lifting and have done for months. I doubt they even bothered to read Mohan's editorials.
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Given the uneven tone and some of the unjounalistic things that have appeared in some of their articles in the past, I have wondered aloud here before just how much the editors read before it goes to press.scobienz wrote:Mohan was the publisher, not the editor. Jim Brooke was the editor until two weeks ago. Mohan recently appointed Terry Friel as 'acting editor in chief'. He and Vince MacIsaac do most of the heavy lifting and have done for months. I doubt they even bothered to read Mohan's editorials.
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So who has got the stinky fingers in this case then? Are Terry and Vince just as much to blame for not doing their job and letting this stuff pass?scobienz wrote:Mohan was the publisher, not the editor. Jim Brooke was the editor until two weeks ago. Mohan recently appointed Terry Friel as 'acting editor in chief'. He and Vince MacIsaac do most of the heavy lifting and have done for months. I doubt they even bothered to read Mohan's editorials.
Not in my view. I don't think you could expect them to identify obscure blocks of text lifted from a Kenyan Phd student, and I doubt they are subscribers to The Star in Malaysia.
And remember - neither of them had senior editing roles until a couple of weeks ago, when Brooke left. If anyone should be chastised, it should be Brooke who despite being editor in chief was so removed from day to day operations as to be irrelevant, and who seemed to acquiesce to Mohan publishing his barely literate editorials with absolutely no editing done on them whatsoever.
And remember - neither of them had senior editing roles until a couple of weeks ago, when Brooke left. If anyone should be chastised, it should be Brooke who despite being editor in chief was so removed from day to day operations as to be irrelevant, and who seemed to acquiesce to Mohan publishing his barely literate editorials with absolutely no editing done on them whatsoever.
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