Johann Hari quits Independent to write a book

Columnist Johann Hari has quit the Independent to write a book just a few weeks before he was due to return to the paper following a period of retraining in the US after admitting plagiarism.

Hari says on his website: "I’d like to thank the Independent for the privilege of working for them over the past nine years, and for offering me my job back, starting in a few weeks. But after nearly six months living in New York City, and plenty of time to reflect, I’ve decided to not take them up on their kind offer.

"There are two reasons. I’m willing to take the flack for my errors myself: when you screw up, you should pay a price. But I’m not willing to see other people, who are played no part in those errors and are unimpeachably decent people, take the flack too. It’s not fair on them.

"The Independent has been great to me, and we need its principles in the public arena without distractions. Secondly, while doing some journalistic retraining in the US, I’ve started working on a book on a subject I believe is important and requires urgent action. To be done properly it needs international travel and the kind of in depth focus that’s not possible when you are writing a heavily researched column at the same time.

"So, while I’ll be writing occasional articles elsewhere, I’ll be mainly delving deeply into this one subject for now. Above all else, I’d like to thank all the readers of the Independent. Ever since I started as a columnist as a 23 year old I have learned so much from you. I often learned the most from the more critical messages – you have talked me out of a dozen positions – but your supportive letters and emails since last July have hugely moved me.

"I’ll continue to be a loyal reader and supporter of the Independent. It is one of the world’s great newspapers, and I feel privileged to have been part of it all these years."

Hari offers to pay back £2,000 Orwell Prize money

Johann Hari has contacted the organisers of The Orwell Prize and offered to repay the £2,000 he received for winning the 2008 award for journalism, which he returned after allegations about his work.

Political Quarterly, one of the partners in running the prize and the partner responsible for paying the prize money that year, has decided not to pursue the prize money, but has instead invited Hari to make an appropriate donation to English PEN, of which George Orwell was a member.

The Council of the Orwell Prize says it now considers the matter to be at an end.

The Orwell Prize: New statement on Johann Hari

The Council of the Orwell Prize has issued a statement "to clarify a few points" about the Orwell Prize for Journalism awarded to Johann Hari in 2008 and subsequently returned.

The Council says "it can confirm that, subject to any further representations by Hari, the Orwell Prize for Journalism 2008 would have been vacated in any case".

It also says: "On 30 June 2011 the Council said that it would be investigating the basis for allegations made about Hari's work. This included writing to Johann Hari and to the (then) editor of The Independent, with a number of questions.

"Hari responded; the editor did not, either to this or a subsequent set of queries. The Orwell Prize has no independent capacity to research the work that is submitted. It relies on the integrity of authors and of their publisher’s editorial practices.

"On the 21 July (as stated on 15 July) an emergency meeting of the Council met ‘to consider our review of Johann Hari’s material and material submitted by the public before that time’. The Council considered one article submitted by Hari in 2008, ‘How multiculturalism is betraying women’ (The Independent, 30 April 2007), on the basis of the evidence which had been received.

"The Council concluded that the article contained inaccuracies and conflated different parts of someone else’s story (specifically, a report in Der Spiegel). The Council ruled that the substantial use of unattributed and unacknowledged material did not meet the standards expected of Orwell Prize-winning journalism.

"The Council drafted a decision, saying that subject to a deadline, it would announce that the Prize was vacated, but that Hari would be given an opportunity to make any further representations in his defence and an opportunity to ‘apologise to the judges, the other applicants, the Prize and the public, and to resign the Prize before the announcement’.

"However, the Council found that The Independent had prohibited Hari from responding to any communication while the paper’s own investigation, conducted by Andreas Whittam Smith, was in progress. (This also appears to have prevented Hari from answering a second email sent to him before the Council meeting.)

"As a result, the Council decided that it was impossible to announce the decision as it could not communicate with Hari, nor give him the opportunity to reply (as stated on 25 July). On the afternoon of 14 September, a courier returned the plaque which had been awarded to Johann Hari on winning the Orwell Prize for Journalism 2008. There was no note of explanation. The prize money (£2000) has also not been returned. The director of the Prize telephoned the editor of The Independent who confirmed that Hari had returned the Prize, which was also confirmed later by Hari’s ‘A personal apology’, published online by The Independent.

"The Council of the Orwell Prize accepted Hari’s return of the Prize. Annalena McAfee, Albert Scardino and Sir John Tusa – the Journalism Prize judges from 2008 – have decided not to re-award the 2008 Prize, despite the high quality journalism on that year’s shortlist.

"The Council would like to apologise to those who entered the Journalism Prize 2008. We also apologise to the judges, for not being able to conduct a fair assessment at the time. It is also grateful to those who persisted in examining Hari’s articles and brought the discrepancies to the Council’s attention."

Johann Hari returns Orwell Prize and says sorry

The Orwell Prize organisers said in a statement tonight: "The 2008 Orwell Prize for Journalism, which had been awarded to Johann Hari, was returned this afternoon by courier. The Orwell Prize accepts Hari’s withdrawal."

Hari, the writer and columnist for the Independent, has admitted plagiarism allegations and will attend a journalism training course before being allowed to rejoin the newspaper.

Independent Print Limited (IPL), the owner of the Independent, said that Hari had acknowledged embellishing quotations in articles and plagiarism following an examination of evidence by Andreas Whittam Smith, a former editor of the paper. Hari was suspended in July to allow the claims to be investigated.

Whittam Smith recommended that Hari, who also accepted that he had used a pseudonym - David Rose - to attack his critics by editing their Wikipedia entries, should be allowed to return to working for The Independent subject to certain conditions.

Hari, who has apologised for his actions, is to take four months' unpaid leave to undertake a programme of journalism training at his own expense.

Chris Blackhurst, editor of the Independent, said: "We always pride ourselves on pursuing the highest ethical standards at the Independent. Regrettably, Johann fell below those in some aspects of his journalism. He has acknowledged his mistakes and made a full apology. There is no doubting his talent as a columnist and we are hoping to see him back in the Independent in the not too distant future.”

Orwell Prize delays revealing decision on Hari

The Council of the Orwell Prize has "reluctantly" agreed to delay announcing its decision over the 2008 journalism award made to Independent journalist Johann Hari, which has been reviewed after allegations of plagiarism, while the newspaper carries out its own investigation.

A statement today said: "The Council of the Orwell Prize met on Thursday 21st July to consider Johann Hari’s 2008 submission for the journalism prize. After extensive deliberation, the Council arrived at a clear and unanimous decision, which drew from the combined journalistic and academic expertise of its members.

"It also considered a representation by Johann Hari in its deliberation, and appropriate weight was placed upon it. The Council of the Orwell Prize is fully satisfied that it has adopted the appropriate procedure for an exercise of this kind.

"The Independent has now requested that the Council consider further representations by Johann Hari before announcing the decision. However, it would appear that Johann Hari is not permitted to make any further representations whilst The Independent’s investigation is conducted.

"In these circumstances, the Council of the Orwell Prize has reluctantly consented to delay any formal announcement as to the status of the 2008 Orwell Prize for Journalism until The Independent has completed its own investigation. We will take no further action and make no further statements until that time."

Hari on Raoul Moat: 'Are the media guilty?'

Johann Hari in the Independent today puts the media in the frame over its coverage of the hunt for fugative Raoul Moat and the shootings in the Northumbria.
He writes: "The media has been lasciviously describing every blood-flecked cranny of the shooting incident in Northumbria this week, while blankly ignoring the most important question – did we help to pull the trigger? Every time there is a massacre by a mentally ill person, like Derrick Bird's last month, journalists are warned by psychologists that, if we are not very careful in our reporting, we will spur copycat attacks by more mentally ill people. We ignored their warnings. We reported the case in precisely the way they said was most risky. Are we now seeing the result?"
He urges the Press Complaints Commission to take action: "Shouldn't the Press Complaints Commission develop strict guidelines now so we don't run this same slaughter-script next time?
"If we don't, we will be making a cold calculation – that flashier front pages and extra revenue in a slow summer is more important to us than saving innocent lives. Is the British media more interested in making a killing than in preventing one?"

More gloom as columnists warn over future of local press as democracy watchdog

With more regional press gloom today as Northcliffe predicts total job losses of 1,000 in the division as ad revenues continue to fall, it was good to see two national columnists stressing the importance of the local press to local democracy.
Johann Hari in The Independent and Ian Jack in The Guardian both looked at the crisis facing regional newspapers and the negative impact it would have on keeping local authorities under scrutiny.