name	Johann Hari
birth date	January 21, 1979
birth place	Glasgow, Scotland
occupation	journalist, writer
alma mater	King's College, Cambridge
nationality	British
religion	None (Atheist)
signature	}}

Johann Eduard Hari (born 21 January 1979) is a British journalist and writer. He is a columnist for ''The Independent'' and ''The Huffington Post'', and has won awards for his reporting. His work has appeared in publications such as the ''New York Times'', '''', and ''Ha'aretz''.

In July 2011 he was suspended from writing by ''The Independent'' for two months pending investigation of accusations of plagiarism in his articles. Another row followed soon thereafter when other journalists accused him of tampering with their Wikipedia articles after having disagreements with him.

Early life

Hari was born in Glasgow and raised in London. Having attended fee-paying John Lyon School (affiliated to Harrow School) and Woodhouse College he graduated with a double first in Social and Political Sciences at King's College, Cambridge, in 2001.

Politics

Hari has broadly progressive political views, and is sympathetic to the environmental movement. He also espouses republicanism and a number of classical liberal positions, such as drug legalisation and gay rights. He is also a secularist and atheist.

Controversies

Iraq war

Hari was described as "among the most gung-ho supporters" of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, basing this not on the evidence for WMD but on a visit to Iraq in December 2002 and the March 2003 Kenneth Joseph story. In 2006 he declared that his support had been a "terrible mistake" and he "should have known all along Bush would produce a disaster." He credited Noam Chomsky's condemnation of support for the Iraq war as having "helped me figure out where I had gone so badly wrong" on Iraq.

Both when he supported the Iraq war and after 2006 when he opposed it, Hari had several public disagreements with other public figures, such as George Galloway, Harold Pinter, and Nick Cohen.

In a 2007 review for the American ''Dissent'' magazine, Hari criticised both Nick Cohen's book ''What's Left'' and the Euston Manifesto (of which Cohen was co-writer), sparking a dispute.

Secularism and atheism

In February 2009 an English-language Indian newspaper, ''The Statesman'', republished an article by Hari, critical of Islam, claiming the right to criticise any religion. The editor (Ravindra Kumar) and publisher (Anand Sinha) of ''The Statesman'' were subsequently arrested on charges of outraging religious feelings.

Hari opposed Pope Benedict XVI's state visit to the UK and spoke alongside Richard Dawkins at the major rally against him.

Accusations of plagiarism in Hari's interviews

Since becoming a prominent commentator and writer, Hari has interviewed many leading figures, including world leaders. On 27 June 2011, Johann Hari was accused of plagiarism because it was established that in some of his interviews he has quoted words his interviewees had written or spoken elsewhere, without making these other sources clear.

Hari acknowledged in his blog that he did this, but said that it was not plagiarism as he was not passing off someone else's thoughts as his own, only "carefully reading over all a writer’s books and selecting parts of it to accurately quote at certain key moments to best reflect how they think." He said he had only done this when the interviewee had made the same point to him in less clear spoken words. Examples of this practice include interviews with the Italian Marxist Antonio Negri and the Israeli journalist Gideon Levy.

However, concerns were expressed that this recycling of quotes was misleading readers and that quotes from prior interviews had not been properly attributed, raising questions of copyright and fair use.

Simon Kelner, the editor-in-chief of ''The Independent'', said on 28 June that the newspaper had not previously received any complaints about Johann Hari, though Hari made reference on his own blog in 2003 to Noam Chomsky accusing Hari of making inaccurate statements about him.

On 29 June Johann Hari repeated his defence on his blog but added that he was sorry that it "wasn’t clear to the reader" and acknowledged an error of judgement. Writing in ''The Independent'' Hari defended his use of unattributed quotes as a clarification, especially where his interview subjects were making a similar point to him in the interview that they had already made more clearly in their own writing: he used "the clearer words from their writing so the reader understood the point best." Hari says Gideon Levy responded to the allegations "I stand behind everything that was published in the interview. It was a totally accurate representation of my thoughts and words."

However, concerns were expressed in the ''New Statesman'' and the ''Guardian'' that this did not apply to Johann Hari's repeated and unattributed use of quotes from published interviews with his subjects by other journalists.

Consequences

The Media Standards Trust announced on 28 June that they recognised the potential of these allegations to damage the reputation of the Orwell Prize, which Hari had previously been awarded. They instructed the Council of the Orwell Prize to take action to examine the allegations. On 25 July 2011, a spokesman for the Council of the Orwell Prize announced that it had "arrived at a clear and unanimous decision" as to whether Hari would be allowed to retain the prize. Citing unnamed sources, the Telegraph reported that Hari would be stripped of his award.

On 12 July 2011, Hari was suspended for two months “pending investigation” by Andreas Whittam Smith. Smith's inquiry may include an examination of alleged sock puppet edits of Wikipedia articles that were critical about rival journalists, including those of Cristina Odone and Nick Cohen, which have been linked to Hari.

Interviews with quotes from earlier works by the interviewee

On 17 June 2011, a blog called Deterritorial Support Group posted a critique of an interview with Antonio Negri by Johann Hari, published in ''The Independent'' in 2004. The critique showed that several of the answers, which Hari had presented in his interview as having been said to him by Negri at their interview at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in 2004, had been taken verbatim from ''Negri on Negri: in conversation with Anne Dufourmentelle'', first published in 2002 as ''''. Hari had used the English text from the 2003 translation by Malcolm DeBevoise but had presented the quotes from the work authored by Anne Dufourmentelle and Negri, translated by DeBevoise into English, as part of Hari's own interview with Negri, without crediting the authors or the translator.

On 27 June 2011, Brian Whelan, an Irish journalist, posted a follow-up to the DSG critique, on the subject of an interview with Gideon Levy by Johann Hari, published in ''The Independent'' in 2010. Whelan's critique showed that several of the answers, which Hari had presented in his interview as having been said to him by Levy at their interview in a hotel bar in Scotland, had been taken verbatim from earlier articles by Levy in ''Haaretz'', in ''From Occupied Palestine'', and from an interview with Gideon Levy by Robert Hirschfield published ''In These Times'' in 2009.

Further allegations were made against Hari on 1 July, concerning a 4,000 word interview in July 2009, with Malalai Joya, an Afghan activist for women's rights. Several quotations from Joya's book ''Raising My Voice'', co-written with Derrick O'Keefe were presented by Hari as though they had been said by her during his interview.

Interviews where material from earlier interviewers was recycled

In his original blog post Brian Whelan had invited people to crowdsource Johann Hari's other interviews to find further evidence of plagiarism. On 29 June 2011, he posted again concerning an interview with Gareth Thomas by Johann Hari, published in ''The Independent'' on 30 January 2010. The published interview by Hari appears to have lifted word-for-word a quotation first published in ''Attitude'' in an interview with Gareth Thomas by Matthew Todd and requoted in other newspapers before Hari's interview with Gareth Thomas was printed.

On 29 June Guy Walters posted in the ''New Statesman'' a critique of an interview with Hugo Chávez by Johann Hari published in ''The Independent'' in 2006. Walters' critique showed that at least twice in the published interview, Hari had used quotations from earlier interviews with Chávez by other journalists, as if they had been said to Hari in his interview with Chávez. Walters identifies these quotes from "Interview with Hugo Chavez" by Lally Weymouth published in ''Newsweek'' in October 2000, and from "The Revolutionary", an interview with Chávez by Jon Lee Anderson, published in ''The New Yorker'' on 10 September 2001.

Another allegation was made against Hari on 4 July, concerning an interview with the veteran journalist Ann Leslie. Author Jeremy Duns established that the source of 545 words of this nearly 5,000-word piece was an autobiographical article by Leslie published in the ''Daily Mail'', reprinted without attribution as though they were said to him in the interview.

Wikipedia

A number of journalists, including Cristina Odone in ''The Daily Telegraph'' and Nick Cohen in ''The Spectator'', have claimed that edits on Wikipedia by a user under the name 'David r from meth productions', who claimed to be 'David Rose', were in fact made by Hari. Writing in ''The Daily Telegraph'', Odone claimed that, after she had fallen out with Hari, Rose began making misleading edits to her Wikipedia article accusing her of anti-Semitism and homophobia. Nick Cohen said that misleading edits were made to his own Wikipedia article by the same editor after he had published criticism of Hari's work. Writing on his personal blog, ''New Statesman'' legal correspondent David Allen Green noted how in January 2005, a Wikipedia user had uncovered that 'David Rose' shared an ip address with ''The Independent'' newspaper.. The ''Times'' leader writer Oliver Kamm later attributed to 'David Rose' a change in his Wikipedia biography that he regarded as "merely an unsubstantiated judgement" but which had been made not long after a "spat" with Hari.

Orwell Prize

On 25-26 July 2011, several newspapers and trade magazines reported that Hari was stripped of his 2008 Orwell Prize. The decision had been taken on 21 July and according to the Council of the Orwell Prize it was “clear and unanimous". Its public announcement had been delayed however after the ''Independent'' had "requested that the council consider further representations by Johann Hari before announcing the decision".

On 20 and 27 July 2011, ''Private Eye'' and Damian Thompson in his blog at ''The Telegraph'' accused Hari of inventing an atrocity for his Orwell Prize winning article on the Central African Republic.

Awards

"Environmental Commentator of the Year" at the Comment Awards 2010 ''Newspaper Journalist of the Year'' at Amnesty International Awards 2010 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism 2010 ''Journalist of the Year'' at the Stonewall Awards, 2009 ''Cultural Commentator of the Year'' at the Comment Awards, 2009 Author of ''Story of the Year'' at the Environmental Press Awards 2008 The Orwell Prize for political journalism, 2008 Amnesty International Newspaper Journalist of the Year in 2007 One of Debrett's top 100 international 'People of the Year' in 2007 'Young Journalist of the Year' at the British Press Awards in 2003 'Student Journalist of the Year' by the Times in 2000

References

External links

Articles for the ''Independent''

Articles for the Huffington Post

Articles for The Nation

Interview with Johann Hari on Resonance FM's Little Atoms chat show.

Hari discussing Congo on Democracy Now

Sudan Tribune article about Hari's commentary on the role of corporations in Darfur

Category:Articles with inconsistent citation formats Category:1979 births Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Category:Atheism activists Category:British atheists Category:British journalists Category:British republicans Category:British writers Category:Drug policy reform activists Category:Gay writers Category:LGBT journalists Category:LGBT writers from the United Kingdom Category:Living people Category:People from Glasgow Category:Social democrats Category:The Independent people

de:Johann Hari fr:Johann Hari la:Ioannes Hari

Richard William Littlejohn (born 1954) is an English author, broadcaster and journalist. He is noted for his right-wing views and currently writes a twice-weekly column for the ''Daily Mail''.

Littlejohn was previously a columnist for ''The Sun'' and has also written for ''The Spectator'' and London's ''Evening Standard''. Littlejohn earned a place in the inaugural Newspaper Hall of Fame as one of the most influential journalists of the past 40 years.

Primarily a newspaper journalist, Littlejohn has also presented numerous radio and TV shows and has authored or co-authored several books. Although many of his newspaper columns are devoted to life and society in England, Litlejohn lives in the United States of America.

Early life

Littlejohn was born in Ilford, Essex (now Greater London) in 1954, and his family moved to Peterborough when he was five. His father worked in purchasing for British Rail. Littlejohn passed the Eleven-plus, obtaining the highest marks in his year. He attended Deacons Grammar School.

"Journalism"

At 16, Littlejohn went to work as a trainee journalist in Peterborough. He worked for local newspapers during the early 1970s. In the mid-1970s, he joined the Birmingham ''Evening Mail''.

He worked at the London newspaper the ''Evening Standard'' from 1979 to 1989, initially as industrial editor, later a feature writer, then in 1988 as a columnist. While industrial editor in the early 1980s he was asked to stand as a Labour Party candidate, which he declined. In 1989 he joined ''The Sun'', becoming its most popular columnist. His columns attracted controversy, and he was voted "Irritant of the Year" at the 1992 ''What The Papers Say Awards''.

In 1994, he left ''The Sun'' to write for the ''Daily Mail'', contributing columns on news and current affairs (in a similar format to his ''Sun'' column), and one on sport. His ''Mail'' columns earned him the title "Columnist of the Year" at the 1997 British Press Awards.

In February 1998, Littlejohn became the UK's best-paid columnist when he returned to ''The Sun'' to write a twice-weekly column as part of a £1 million deal, which also included presenting for BSkyB.

In May 2005, the ''Mail'' announced that he was re-joining the paper in a move that ''Mail'' editor Paul Dacre described as "returning to his spiritual home". ''The Sun'' sought an injunction to prevent Littlejohn writing for the ''Mail'' before his existing contract with them ended in February 2006, but the matter was later settled out of court and Littlejohn began writing for the ''Mail'' in December 2005.

In addition to regular columns, Littlejohn has contributed articles to ''The Spectator'' and ''Punch''.

One of Littlejohn's ''Sun'' columns - a 2004 skit, entitled "Rum, Sodomy and the Lifejacket", in which Lord Nelson is confronted with political correctness, compensation culture and the nanny state - has been published in newspapers, magazines, and websites with Littlejohn's writing credit removed.

Radio

By the end of the 1980s, Littlejohn was known in London for his ''Evening Standard'' columns, and was invited to radio programmes as a pundit. From 1991, he worked for the London radio station LBC, beginning with a regular opinion spot. LBC later gave Littlejohn his own early afternoon show, ''Littlejohn's Long Lunch''; the programme was a talk show featuring topical discussion, phone-ins, and guests. He later became permanent presenter of the morning show, replacing Michael Parkinson.

During his time at LBC, Littlejohn was censured by the Radio Authority for breaching broadcasting rules. This culminated in the Radio Authority stating that he "had broken half-a-dozen rules and had incited violence" due to an edition of his phone-in show in which he suggested the police should have used flamethrowers against a group of "militant homosexuals" protesting outside the House of Commons.

On another LBC phone-in he was censured by the Radio Authority for describing the British Royal Family as a "bunch of tax-evading adulterers". Littlejohn favours abolition of the Monarchy.

Television

After leaving LBC in 1994, Littlejohn was approached by BSkyB managing director (and former ''Sun'' editor) Kelvin MacKenzie, and was offered the chance to present a nightly current affairs show on the TV channel Sky News. Called ''Richard Littlejohn'', the show ran for one year. It was not a success. Littlejohn expressed his disappointment, claiming that broadcasting regulations would not permit him to present the show in the style of Rush Limbaugh's programmes: "If Sky News could emulate its U.S. sister Fox News... ratings would soon shoot past the Astra satellite. But the regulators won't allow it." Later in 1994, Trevor Phillips of London Weekend Television hired Littlejohn to host a studio-based talk show entitled ''Richard Littlejohn Live And Uncut''. Phillips produced three series of the programme, which was transmitted only in the London area.

On Littlejohn's 8 July 1994 show, he was critical of two lesbians, one of whom was Linda Bellos. Michael Winner, a guest on the show, attacked Littlejohn for his views and told him that the lesbians "have come across with considerable dignity and you have come across as an arsehole."

Littlejohn hosted the first series of Channel 4's game show ''Wanted'', a stand-in for Bob Mills). ''Wanted'' aired in October 1996 and won a Silver Rose at the Festival Rose d'Or. As part of a 1997 deal which saw him return to the ''Sun'', Littlejohn hosted a night talk show on Sky One called ''Littlejohn: Live And Unleashed''.

In early 2003 he returned to Sky News to present ''Littlejohn'', a live talk show initially broadcast twice weekly but later extended to four nights per week. The programme was axed on 8 July 2004 when Sky News changed format and replaced it with regular rolling news.

On 9 July 2007, Channel 4 showed a documentary entitled ''The War on Britain's Jews?'', written and narrated by Littlejohn. Littlejohn has also appeared on the BBC's ''Question Time'' and ''Have I Got News For You''.

Books

Littlejohn has authored or co-authored:

''The Essex Girl Joke Book'' (as Ray Leigh, with Mitchell Symons as Brent Wood, 1991, Corgi Publishing) - a collection of Essex girl jokes, co-written (with "Brent Wood") under the pseudonym "Ray Leigh".

''You Couldn't Make It Up'' (1995, Heinemann, ISBN 0-434-00238-0) - named after one of Littlejohn's catchphrases, and described on the jacket as "a brilliant collection of liberal-skewering wit and wisdom", this is a book of recollections and opinion pieces on subjects such as political correctness, politicians, corporate "fat cats", the European Union, and the British Royal Family. Anthony Daniels, writing in ''The Daily Telegraph'', said: "...not only does he never mention foreigners in any but a derogatory way - when he is far too intelligent a man really to believe that we have nothing to learn from any of them - but when he writes of the Germans and the Japanese as having taken our cars and electronics industries he is pandering to the kind of stupid, ignorant, sentimental, self-pitying xenophobia which is the root of all fascism, and which is an obstacle to genuine self improvement."

''To Hell In A Handcart'' (2001, HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-710613-0) - named after another of his catchphrases, this is Littlejohn's first and only novel, based loosely on the Tony Martin case. The book was lambasted by critics for its portrayal of asylum seekers and the stereotypical individuals in the book, notably by ''The Independent'''s David Aaronovitch who described it as "a 400-page recruiting pamphlet for the British National Party". However, it received positive reviews from some conservative writers such as Frederick Forsyth and Andrew Roberts. This was later the subject of a BBC Radio Five Live discussion with Will Self (''see below'').

''The Book Of Useless Information'' (with Keith Waterhouse, 2002, John Blake Publishing, ISBN 1-903402-79-4) - co-written with Keith Waterhouse, this "stocking filler" book is a collection of "useless" facts, described on the cover as "all you never needed to know and didn't need to ask."

''The Ultimate Book Of Useless Information'' (with Keith Waterhouse, 2004, John Blake Publishing, ISBN 1-84454-060-X) - another volume of "useless" facts.

''Littlejohn's Britain'' - Publisher: Hutchinson (3 May 2007) ISBN 0091795680 - described by the ''Observer'' as "Lampooning New Labour with polemic, pastiche, parody, satire and savage social commentary." The ''New Statesman'' said of it: "Littlejohn's Britain doesn't exist. Literally. He spends much of the year writing from a gated mansion in Florida, and admitted in a recent column that, when he is in Britain, he rarely leaves the house. He is describing a country he sees only through the pages of the right-wing press and his self-reinforcing mailbag."

Controversy and criticism

The Will Self incident

On a June 2001 edition of Nicky Campbell's show on BBC Radio Five Live, a discussion took place between Littlejohn and Will Self. Both were on the show to promote their novels (Littlejohn's ''To Hell in a Handcart'' and Self's ''How the Dead Live''). Campbell cited David Aaronovitch's description of Littlejohn's novel as a "400-page recruiting pamphlet for the British National Party". Littlejohn responded (referring to Aaronovitch): "What else do you expect from an overgrown student union leader who used to be a member of the Communist Party? I think it is a badge of honour to be attacked by people like David Aaronovitch to be perfectly honest. I might put it on the cover".

Self agreed with Aaronovitch's comments, said that he had read half of Littlejohn's book, and he described its author as "a kind of Tom Sharpe for the far right". Littlejohn said that he should "read the book in its totality", to which Self retorted "''Why?''... Does it turn into Tolstoy at page 205?". Littlejohn's response was: "No it doesn't turn into Tolstoy. I don't set out to be Tolstoy. It is a much more complex book than that". In the same interview, Littlejohn enquired of Self, who is a recovering addict: "You are not still on heroin are you?".

Asian hopscotch lessons

In February 2011 Littlejohn wrote in his ''Daily Mail'' column that Haringey Council was using taxpayer funds for hopscotch lessons for Asian women. This was actually an urban myth first propogated by the former Conservative Party chairman, Brian Mawhinney in 1995. In fact, the Hopscotch Asian Women's Centre offered "support services for Asian women and their families on a wide range of issues including domestic violence, benefits, housing, education, immigration and health matters [and provided] advocacy and support to people with learning disabilities."

Asylum Seeker's Benefit Claims

In 2004, Johann Hari appeared as a guest on Littlejohn's Sky News programme and challenged his claims that an asylum seeker could claim £117 per week, stating that the true figure was £37.77. "You propagate anti-asylum seeker lies, just as surely as this man" [Nick Griffin], said Hari, referring to Griffin's support for Littlejohn. He later wrote: "I asked Richard how much a single asylum seeker is given in benefits each week. You'd think that a journalist who writes about asylum twice a week would, of course, know something so incredibly basic. His response was clear. He snapped: 'I have no idea'."

Attitude toward homosexuality

The ''Diary'' column of ''The Guardian'' newspaper annually documents the results of a "Littlejohn audit" — a count of the number of references Littlejohn makes to homosexuality in his columns.

Littlejohn has said he is opposed to discrimination against homosexuals. In his ''Daily Mail'' column on 10 October 2007, he said, in reference to British society in the 1970s: "Though homosexuality wasn't exactly my idea of a night out, I thought it outrageous that gays were subjected to discrimination in areas such as employment, housing and pensions."

Disabled protester

In December 2010 he mocked a 20 year old with cerebral palsy who was thrown out of his wheelchair by the police at a protest. Littlejohn argued that the young man involved should not have attended the protest and compared him to Andy Pipkin from Little Britain. This prompted 500 complaints to the Press Complaints Commission.

Personal life

Littlejohn is a keen football fan and since the late 1960s has been a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur football club. He starred in his own football video, ''We Woz Robbed''. In 1965, he turned down a scholarship at Oundle School because they did not play football, and he went to grammar school instead.

He married Wendy at the age of 21. They have two children, Georgina, also a journalist, and William.

References

External links

Daily Mail column

The new anti-Semitism: How the Left reversed history to bring Judaism under attack by Richard Littlejohn. ''Daily Mail'' 6 July 2007

Richard Littlejohn Tackles Anti-semitism. Interview with Richard Littlejohn at ''TotallyJewish''. 5 July 2007

Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:British association football commentators Category:British journalists Category:British radio personalities Category:British republicans Category:British television presenters Category:Daily Mail journalists Category:People from Ilford