Bernie Weinraub copied Luke Ford?

Yes, apparently. This twist in the Anthony Pellicano-wiretap story gets an airing by Jack Shafer at Slate, and on the ever-more irrepressible LukeFord.net. More background from Ford pal-confidante-adviser Cathy Seipp.

Weinraub: "What can I tell you?... I screwed up … I'm sorry."

Update 11 p.m: This appears with the corrections in tomorrow's New York Times:

Editors' Note

An article in Business Day on Tuesday reported on a federal inquiry into suspected illegal wiretapping by a private investigator in Hollywood, Anthony Pellicano. The article incorporated a paragraph about an incident in which Mr. Pellicano recovered the body of Elizabeth Taylor's third husband, Mike Todd, which had been removed from its grave at a Chicago cemetery. That paragraph was reproduced nearly verbatim from a Weblog compiled by a Los Angeles journalist, Luke Ford, who adapted it from a passage in the 2000 book "Dish," by Jeannette Walls. In February 1994, a similar account appeared in Los Angeles magazine. The Times should have credited the Weblog for its version.

Given his history with Weinraub, I await Mickey Kaus' take on this. As for Luke Ford, if I recall correctly he also has an appearance on "60 Minutes" coming up, as a friendly source based on his knowledge of the Valley porn biz. He gained that expertise in a previous incarnation as the man behind lukeford.com, a site he has sold (now X-rated). It would appear that many in that world don't care for him. (See also "The Most Hated Man in Web Porn" from Wired in 2001.) Where will he show up next?

6:11 PM Thursday, November 13 2003 • Link
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That. Is. Awesome.

Posted by: joseph at November 13, 2003 06:43 PM

Amazing. Weinraub made a mistake about me that ended up as a Correction on page 2 last February, when I was the lone voice to speak out in front of the City Council in favor of the proposed new Police Commission rule on burglar alarms. I was shiocked when he said that no one had spoken against it; the LA Times ran a picture of me and quoted me, too, speaking against it. I even saw him and spoke to him for a moment after the council meeting, but he still got it wrong. That he would lift an entire paragraph lock, stock and barrel, though, astounds me. That is the end of a distinguished career, I would imagine, at least the NY Times.

Posted by: Joe Shea at November 13, 2003 07:19 PM

It's been a while since I've laughed so hard.

I got a call from Jack Shafer at 8:30AM, before I'd said my prayers. I couldn't figure out what he was talking about for ten minutes. I'd read the article in question but completely missed the plagiarism. Too funny. Wow. Got an apologetic phone call from a NYT editor.

Posted by: Luke Ford at November 13, 2003 10:59 PM

Viva Luke!

Posted by: The Raven at November 14, 2003 02:40 PM
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