Photo Credit: Lawn Tennis Writers' Association
London Times’ tennis correspondent Neil Harman has been suspended indefinitely after confessing to plagiarizing content written by other writers in Wimbledon’s annual yearbook.
Slate Magazine’s Ben Rothenberg broke the story last week, after completing a thorough investigation of Harman’s wrongdoing.
Here’s Rothenberg, from the Slate article, on what his investigation revealed:
“My personal review of the 2013 [Wimbledon Yearbook] found 14 large passages taken without attribution. Further, my examination of his writing for the previous two Wimbledon annuals revealed at least eight instances of obvious plagiarism in the 2012 book, and a staggering 30 in the 2011 edition, bringing the total to at least 52 in the last three books. I have yet to examine the 2004-through-2010 books.
"Of these 52 examples, 28 of the passages were lifted from the Guardian. Six were from the New York Times, five from either the Times of London or the Sunday Times, four from Sports Illustrated, four from the Telegraph, four from the Independent, and one from the New York Daily News."
In addition to being suspended from the London Times, Harman was relieved of his duties at Wimbledon, and he also resigned from his position as the President of the International Tennis Writers’ Association.
In a letter to the ITWA, published at The Changeover last week, Harman wrote the following:
"It has been brought to my attention that I have severely compromised my position as a member, having used unattributed material to form part of my writing of the Wimbledon Yearbook. There can be no excuse for such shoddy work, which I deeply regret. I did it without malice aforethought, but that I did it at all is simply inexcusable.
"I sincerely had no idea the extent to which I had let the Club, myself and my colleagues down and feel it is only right that I relinquish my membership. This is a marked stain on my reputation and (I hope) good name. When Wimbledon first informed me that they had been made aware of this lack of professionalism, I immediately told those British writers who were attending the Davis Cup tie in Naples. Since then, I realise that I had made several errors which are unconscionable. It is far better for all concerned that I resign my membership."