Media News - Friday, February 15, 2013

Knight Foundation apologizes for paying Jonah Lehrer $20,000 for plagiarism speech

The foundation that paid $20,000 to Jonah Lehrer for a speech on his serial plagiarism apologized for doing so on Wednesday night. Lehrer made his first extended remarks about the fabrications that led to his downfall at a Knight Foundation seminar on Tuesday. The speech was met with a chilly reception that turned even chillier when it emerged that Knight had given him tens of thousands of dollars for a speech about his journalistic malfeasance. Knight Foundation president Alberto Ibargüen initially defended the payment in interviews with HuffPost's Michael Calderone and others, saying that Lehrer had received a standard fee. On Wednesday night, though, Knight posted an apology on its blog: "On Tuesday, the Knight Foundation paid Jonah Lehrer to speak at a community foundation conference. In retrospect, as a foundation that has long stood for quality journalism, paying a speaker's fee was inappropriate. Controversial speakers should have platforms, but Knight Foundation should not have put itself into a position tantamount to rewarding people who have violated the basic tenets of journalism. We regret our mistake." (The Huffington Post)

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