VQR Reporter Absolves Chris Anderson of ‘Malice’

By Jason Boog 

canderson_free.jpgOur blogging sibling FishbowlNY landed a publishing scoop–interviewing the Virginia Quarterly Review journalist who uncovered unattributed Wikipedia passages in Chris Anderson’s new book, “Free: The Future of a Radical Price.”

VQR writer Waldo Jaquith was reading an advance copy of “Free” when he checked Wikipedia for a reference question, and spotted some alarming similarities in the copy. Even though Jaquith was the first to discover these lifted passages, he told FishbowlNY’s Amanda Ernst that he didn’t see “malice” in Anderson’s actions.

Here’s more from the post: “Ultimately, Jaquith said he thinks Anderson’s description of the plagiarism as an oversight seems genuine. ‘I’m not able to peek into his motives, but you’d have to be mentally ill to do this on purpose,’ he said. ‘To assign malice to this would mean something was seriously wrong with him.'”