February 8, 2007, - 12:12 pm
Top Conservative Blogger Rips Hannity Rip-Off; VIDEO: Best-Selling NYTimes Islam Expert Cites Schlussel on Al-Husainy
By Debbie Schlussel
Two of the classiest people I know in commentary-dom and on the blogosphere, La Shawn Barber–blogger & speaker extraordinaire–and Robert Spencer–New York Times best-selling author, Islam expert, and Jihad Watch director and blogger, Robert Spencer, have given credit where credit is due regarding my original work (here and here)–repeatedly ripped off by Sean Hannity–on the Dems’ fave Imam, Husham Al-Husainy.
La Shawn–whose blog, La Shawn Barber’s Corner is among the most prominent conservative sites in the blogosphere–agrees with me that Sean Hannity clearly plagiarized my work. An excerpt:
For the past couple of days, Sean Hannity has been talking about this issue [Imam Al-Husainy] on “Hannity & Colmes.” Debbie has accused Hannity of citing her work without giving her credit. Since some of her information is exclusive, it’s obvious where he’s getting his information. . . .
If he’s “reporting” on al-Husainy and lifting material from Debbie’s exclusives without citing her work, it’s plagiarism. . . .
I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be to do all the leg work for a story, only to have someone, especially a fellow conservative, steal from you. . . .
Shame on you, Sean. But it’s not too late to make amends.
Read the whole thing. (I read La Shawn frequently. You should, too.)
Robert Spencer–all of whose books on Islam I always highly recommend–hosts today’s Hot Air/Jihad Watch video (which he hosts once a week). I also recommend Jihad Watch, which I read regularly. Robert’s expertise and mastery of Islam is so good that many CAIR officials are afraid to debate him.
In today’s video, Robert has a lot of very good points about Imam Al-Husainy, and you will learn something new from him. I certainly did and always do. Robert also cites my work on Imam Al-Husainy, and that is very much appreciated. I only expected a link from Robert, but he prominently cited me and showed a cut of my site in the video, which is very well done.
Watch the whole video. It’s only a few minutes and well worth it.
***
Regarding the Hannity rip-off, I’m getting tons of mail on this, and the mail (with the exception of one letter) has been 100% anti-Hannity. And these are Sean’s listeners and viewers. Big mistake and no legitimate reason to rip me off, Sean.
A sample is Reader Chris, who writes:
Deb,
I live up in Saratoga Springs, and I listen to talk radio often. I’ve listened to Sean Hannity’s show many times, and I’ve heard him discuss the topics that he clipped from your work. It is a low point in radio commentary when the host has to take refuge in denying stealing someone else’s work so that they can appear to be significant in public.
Moreover, it appears that Sean Hannity’s corner he has sacrificed personal integrity for ratings. Self-importance has certainly trumped integrity, and vanity is more important than the bibliography.
Mirror-mirror-on-the-wall, Sean’s the smallest of them all.
Tags: author, dom, Imam Al-Husainy, Islam, Jihad Watch director, New York Times, Reader Chris, Robert Spencer, Saratoga, Sean Hannity, Shawn Barber, speaker
One of the dangers of writing on the internet is that your stuff can easily be stolen…and Fox “news” is notorious for that…just ask Matt Drudge!
EminemsRevenge on February 8, 2007 at 12:45 pm